


Got Me Feelin’ A Whole Lot

by makingdemands



Category: ATEEZ (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M, Pining, Self indulgence, a few more idol cameos, also there’s a musical, as a treat, characters being stupid, don’t think too hard about them, everyone is kind of an asshole in this but it's fine, just a little horny, ten and taeyong are hongjoong's catty friends, woosan are referred to as one single unit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:21:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 42,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24424189
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makingdemands/pseuds/makingdemands
Summary: Yunho and Mingi are college roommates (oh my god they were roommates) and they’re both a little in love with Kim Hongjoong. It's like fine though, because he'll never like either of them back... unless?
Relationships: Choi San/Jung Wooyoung, Jeong Yunho/Kim Hongjoong, Jeong Yunho/Kim Hongjoong/Song Mingi, Jeong Yunho/Song Mingi, Kang Yeosang/Park Seonghwa, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong, Kim Hongjoong/Song Mingi
Comments: 15
Kudos: 128





	Got Me Feelin’ A Whole Lot

**Author's Note:**

> Me, every time I finish a fic: This might be my magnum opus.
> 
> Somehow the longest fic I’ve ever written especially when I haven’t written anything over 11k words in years. This isn’t the best thing ever written but it’s not the worst! Someone had to do it for the Yunho/Hongjoong/Mingi agenda... 
> 
> The title is from the English version of [Play It Cool by Monsta X](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7IXKQzmpK4). I used to hate this song because the chorus is annoying and I still kind of do but I’m also obsessed with it? I love how silly the English lyrics are and Jooheon’s energy in that music video is just irresistible. When he came slinking out of that elevator and said “I speak French, oui/It’s c’est la vie” I felt that.
> 
> Content Warning!! The characters in this fic indulge in some lowkey D/s dynamics during the two smut scenes and it is very spontaneous and not really discussed at all. At some points the characters might express their limits in the moment, but no one is ever pushed too far and everyone is consenting and happy. These characters are being irresponsible and horny and they don’t really know any better, but it’s bad!! If you want to do stuff like that, make sure you do your research and talk about it with your partner beforehand!! Be responsible and stay safe! Don't read if you think it'll make you uncomfortable!

“Mingi!!” Yunho shouted as he urgently entered the library. He rushed to the table where Mingi and Yeosang were seated, surrounded by various study materials.

“Dude, shut up, you’re gonna get us kicked out again!” Yeosang hissed back. He turned to smile politely at the librarian already glaring at them. She narrowed her eyes in response, not looking away from the three of them.

“I’m sorry but I have _vital_ information to share.” Yunho replied seriously, lowering his voice as he pulled out a chair to sit next to his roommate. “Hongjoong-hyung pet my hair again.”

Mingi let out an almost inhuman groan in response, planting his face into his textbook immediately. 

“Great.” Yeosang muttered sarcastically, just rolling his eyes from across the table. “So, it’s Hongjoong Time now?”

“Yes.” Both boys replied in unison without hesitation.

“Cool, I’m gonna go get something from the vending machine I guess, while you guys hash this out.” The other boy said, tiredly closing his laptop and pulling his wallet out of his bag. “You guys want anything? No? Good.” He said, not actually giving the other two a chance to respond.

“Wait, Yeosang, don’t go.” Yunho said, reaching out to grab the sleeve of the other boy’s oversized sweater. “You have Hongjoong intel now, you’re required by law to give us your knowledge.”

“I’m not required to do shit!” Yeosang scoffed, pulling his sleeve out of Yunho’s grasp. His voice was cute but his words were sharp. “I told you when I started seeing him that I was not getting involved in your whole mess!”

“I can't believe you would knowingly start dating the love of my life’s best friend and not even tell me secret things about him!” Mingi whined, holding his hand over his mortally wounded heart. “How could you be so cruel?”

“Too fucking bad!” Yeosang mocked Mingi’s plight by placing his hand over his own heart. “How many times do I have to tell you that I was already actively courting Seonghwa before I realized he was Hongjoong-hyung’s friend? Besides, I barely see Hongjoong-hyung anyway, because I’m dating _Seonghwa_ and not him.”

“Seonghwa-hyung is his _best_ friend, dude!” Mingi reiterated, grasping his hands together and fixing his best pleading gaze on Yeosang as if it had any effect on their stone cold friend. “We can learn about him by proxy if we know about his best friend.”

“You guys literally hang out with Hongjoong-hyung almost as much as Seonghwa does.” Yeosang hissed back in annoyance, crossing his arms. “What could he possibly know that you don’t already know?”

“If he likes one of us.” Mingi answered with a fatal pout that would normally break a lesser man, but Yeosang was immune to it. He was a professional at putting up with bullshit at this point, since his other friends were the likes of Wooyoung and San.

“Believe it or not,” Yeosang huffed out reluctantly. “I actually _did_ ask Seonghwa if he liked either of you guys, in an effort to get you two to shut up for once. But he refused to tell me anything because he’s actually a good friend who doesn’t just share his best friend’s private feelings.”

“So that means there’s something to hide, right?” Mingi conspired, desperately turning to look at Yunho for confirmation.

Yunho just frowned, “Or Seonghwa-hyung doesn’t want to hurt our feelings by rejecting us for him.”

That made Mingi frown too. Yeosang rolled his eyes again, finally walking away without a word towards the library exit. The two remaining are momentarily offended before they remember the task at hand. Hongjoong Time.

“He pet you _again_?” Mingi asked incredulously, trying to keep his voice down as he remembered what Yunho had announced when he first came in.

“Mingi, I swear, I am no longer human because of it.” Yunho explained dramatically. “He asked me to help him carry this heavy box of supplies to the theater and, of course, I immediately stopped everything I was doing to help him.” 

Mingi nodded in agreement. Of course he did! Their sweet Hongjoong-hyung deserved nothing better!

“Then when we dropped the stuff off he thanked me by just... ruffling my hair with his tiny little hand.” Yunho continued his tale, staring wistfully off into the distance as he recalled the memory.

Mingi whined at the visual, reaching out to grab his roommate’s arm in support.

“He had to get up on his tiptoes to reach me, Mingi.” Yunho said solemnly, hoping to accurately express how truly intense this moment was for him.

“Fuck.” Mingi whispered, squeezing Yunho’s arm harder at the very visual of Kim Hongjoong on his tiptoes. It was devastating to say the least. “Why does he keep petting you? I want pets! Am I not puppy enough?”

Mingi presented his best puppy dog eyes to his friend. Yunho nodded, considering the expression seriously.

“You look pretty fucking puppy to me, bro.” He decided. 

“I need to write this down so I remember to act more like that around Hongjoong-hyung.” Mingi said, actually reaching for his notebook and pen. Yunho slammed his hand down on top of the notebook, making way too loud of a noise for the library they were in. 

“No way, bro, that’s cheating.” Yunho said, not even caring about the noise he made. “That’s the only advantage I have over you here, you can’t steal it.”

Mingi scoffed, “Dude, you’re _taller_ than me!”

“By like one cenimeter!” Yunho fought, pouting as he crossed his arms petulantly across his chest. “Besides, Hongjoong insults me for being too tall all the time.” 

“That’s his way of flirting, I swear. He’s a total tsundere.” Mingi insisted, he had to be an expert on Hongjoong at this point.

Yunho shook his head, “He loves it when you make fun of him back though. I’m not good at that kind of flirting like you are.” 

Yunho had heard so many stories of Mingi’s interactions with Hongjoong and he was convinced Mingi had a leg up in the not-really competition they had going on. Mingi was much better at flirting back, while Yunho practically froze every time Hongjoong so much as looked at him. 

“Well, you’re a better singer than me!” Mingi argued. “What if he asks you to help him with one of his songs?”

“He’ll never pick me when he has Jongho.” Yunho disagreed. The two of them shared a grimace at the mention of Jongho, Hongjoong’s muse and their sworn enemy/acquaintance. “It’s way more likely that he would want to do a rap duet with you. Or have you rap while he sings.”

“In my fucking dreams, you mean.” Mingi sighed, resting his chin in his hand. 

The two of them had met because they were randomly assigned roommates their first year of college. They hit it off instantly, since they were both hip-hop dance majors and in similar classes. Mingi had mustered up all his false confidence a few weeks in and came out as bisexual, only for Yunho to enthusiastically come out right back to him. They were basically soulmates, so it shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise when they both started talking about having a crush on this one guy and they quickly came to realize it was the same exact guy. 

_Kim Hongjoong_. He was cool, sexy, and intimidating, but also artsy, cute, and tiny. He was majoring in music production and was clearly better than everyone else in his classes. He was always dressed up fashionably, frequently in clothes that he altered himself. He changed his hair color every couple months, right now settled on a light brown mullet covering the back of his neck. His teeth were perfectly straight and he always had his right pinky nail painted. Hongjoong was just… _everything_.

Normally liking the same person would drive people apart, but Yunho and Mingi just seemed to bond even more over it. Probably because Kim Hongjoong was _completely_ unattainable. It didn’t even feel like a competition for them because both of them knew they never stood a chance at “winning”. Hongjoong would probably never see either of them as anything more than a friend and dongsaeng. 

“Did you see the outfit he was wearing today?” Yunho asked. He figured they should make the most of their Hongjoong Time before Yeosang came back and made them actually study.

“No…” Mingi pouted, laying his head down on the table sadly. “I haven’t had a chance to see him yet today.”

“Oh my god, Mingi…” Yunho breathed out. “He’s got this cute little plaid hat on and it matches his plaid shirt like, exactly. I swear he must have made both of them himself, or something. Is that even a thing he does?”

“Probably. He’s so talented….” Mingi whined, clenching his fist tightly with the full weight of his emotions. “God, he‘s so _fucking_ cute.”

“You have to find a way to see him today, it’s truly a gift.” Yunho insisted. He raised up his hands to make circles around his eyes. “He has these fuckin’ little glasses on, they don’t even have lenses in them. He’s just wearing them to be cute.”

“Maybe I should skip the end of my next lecture so I can surprise him and walk him home after his next class.” Mingi plotted. He _had_ to see Hongjoong in these glasses. 

“It’s worth it.” Yunho nodded enthusiastically. “Fuck school.”

“Now that’s not the right attitude for studying!” Yeosang jokingly scolded as he walked back into the library. He was holding a crumpled up chip bag, carefully licking the remaining salt off his fingers. “Are you guys done? Because I actually want to study.”

“I guess.” Yunho replied reluctantly. 

“Honestly, you two should be grateful I haven’t ditched this study group to go work with Seonghwa instead.” Yeosang rolled his eyes as he sat back down. “He aced this class last year and he knows everything about it.”

“What the fuck?” Mingi outraged as quietly as he could. “Invite him to study with us!”

“No.” Yeosang snorted. 

“What? Why not?” Yunho questioned.

“He doesn’t…” Yeosang stopped himself, which was definitely suspicious considering he almost never censored himself. Yeosang had to speak his mind or he’d die. “He… he’s busy whenever you guys are free. He has a totally different schedule than us. I barely get alone time with him as it is.”

Mingi and Yunho exchanged a suspicious look. They didn’t really believe what their friend was telling them, but how could they refute it? 

“Can we just get to work?” Yeosang insisted, not enjoying the obvious scrutinization. He opened his laptop again, ready to resume studying no matter what was said.

“Fine.” Yunho conceded, opening his own bag to pull out his notebook. “Only because I actually need all the help I can get for this test.”

* * *

Since Hongjoong was so busy all the time, a lot of the time when Yunho saw him, it was in their shared art class. It had been a class Yunho reluctantly signed up for because he waited too long to pick his classes and didn’t really have much better options. But now it was one of his absolute favorite classes to attend, even though Hongjoong’s friends were very scary. 

They all sat at one table together, Hongjoong and Yunho on one side, Ten and Taeyong on the other. Yunho had almost been late on their first day, and the tables were all pretty much full by the time he stumbled in. But it ended up being the best mistake he ever made, because Hongjoong was nice enough to invite him to sit at their table. And he continued being nice, even though his so called best friends seemed to love poking fun at Yunho… 

“Yunho, dear, you’re here early.” Ten teased as soon as Yunho plopped down into his usual spot, next to an unfortunately empty chair. “Try not to look too sad, our Hongjoongie is running a bit late.”

Yunho blushed at being called out, looking down at the table to avoid eye contact with Ten and Taeyong. They were wearing the matching denim jackets that Yunho knew Hongjoong also had, they had all traded jackets and reformed them for each other. Between the three of them, they rarely ever wore clothes that weren’t altered in some way. 

Ten and Taeyong were both ridiculously pretty and tiny and terrifying. Hongjoong was those things too, but less terrifying. Yunho always felt kind of stupid sitting at the same table as them, not only because he was a huge awkward giant, but because he was pretty shy until he felt comfortable enough to open up to people. And it was hard for him to feel comfortable around Ten and Taeyong when he knew they were probably the two bitchiest gossips in their whole school. 

“Was he up all night working _again_?” Taeyong asked Ten with an exasperated sigh. “All he does is work lately.”

“It’s better than what he was doing before…” Ten muttered bitterly. 

”True.” Taeyong agreed, “But still, he sure loves staying up late, yet he refuses to even go out dancing with us?”

“You know what he’s like.” Ten replied. Yunho had his eyes on his phone, but he could practically hear Ten rolling his eyes. “He’s going to work himself into an early grave before he’s even 25. I mean, I get it, I like to work too. But I know when to take a fucking break.”

The two of them complained about this frequently when Hongjoong wasn’t around. Yunho just stayed silent, absorbing the secondhand information as much as he could. It seemed like Ten and Taeyong liked going out to clubs but couldn’t ever get Hongjoong to join them. Yunho knew Hongjoong was really serious about making music, it seemed to consume a lot of his free time.

”Oh, why doesn’t Yunho ever talk to us, Tennie?” Taeyong whined extra loud to make sure Yunho was listening. “Are we not good enough?”

Yunho’s head shot up as he waved his hands furiously in denial, “No, no, no!”

The two of them laughed at the fact that they got that reaction out of him, making Yunho blush even more. He just… had no clue how to talk to them. Hongjoong was so much… nicer.

“Let’s face it, Yongie…” Ten chuckled mischievously, “He only has eyes for one of us, and I think we all know which one.”

“Ah--” Yunho choked, not really knowing how to respond. It wasn’t uncommon for the two of them to tease him about his apparently obvious crush on Hongjoong. Luckily, they usually only did it when Hongjoong wasn’t there, _usually_. Thankfully Hongjoong never seemed to catch onto it, he could be a little oblivious, especially when he was focusing on his art. 

Yunho nervously glanced back at the door. When was Hongjoong going to get here? Class was going to start in a couple minutes. Maybe Yunho should text him?

“Yunho-ssi…” Taeyong called, his teasing tone suddenly dropped for possibly the first time since Yunho met him. “You know what might really help win Hongjoongie over?”

Yunho raised his eyebrow silently, trying not to look too eager for the advice.

“We could use a helping hand over in the theater department. The musical this year requires a lot of sets and unfortunately the strongest guy in the club is one of our stars so he can’t really be risking anything by doing heavy lifting.”

“Jongho.” Yunho responded simply, knowing exactly who Taeyong was referring to. Jongho’s inhuman strength was just one of his many, many talents. Yunho was bitterly aware of how much better the younger boy was than him.

Taeyong smiled, “Ah yes, you’re friends with him right?” 

Yunho shrugged, he had only hung out with Jongho a handful of times, the younger boy was more so friends with Woosan. Yunho also knew that Jongho hung out with Hongjoong a lot because he sang for Hongjoong’s demo tracks, therefore he was the _enemy_. So it was a complicated relationship.

“I know Wooyoung and San better.” Yunho offered as an answer. The dynamic duo were also participating in the musical this year, largely helping to choreograph the whole thing practically on their own. “What’s the musical you’re doing anyway?”

“Cats.” Ten answered before Taeyong could, sounding especially disdainful. 

“Don’t listen to him,“ Taeyong pushed Ten’s shoulder until he almost fell off his chair. “He doesn’t know true art.”

Yunho laughed awkwardly, he didn’t know anything about Cats besides some memes he saw online about the new movie they made about it and how bad it looked. Then again, he didn’t really know much about any musicals.

“It’s a very ambitious endeavor for us,” Taeyong continued explaining, his eyes lighting up. It was kind of nice to see him like this, Yunho thought. “With the costuming and the set building. But I really think it’ll be just amazing if we can pull it off.”

“Babe, no amount of set dressing will make the actual plot of that musical interesting.” Ten said, placing a condescending pat on Taeyong’s back. Taeyong made a mocking face back at him.

“Are you guys talking about the musical, _again_?”

Yunho practically jumped out of his chair at the sound of Hongjoong’s voice behind him. He turned to face the other man, smiling widely as he took in Hongjoong’s adorable half dried, recently showered mullet and the giant fur coat he had on. Even when he was running late, he arrived in style. 

Hongjoong grinned back, running his hand fondly through Yunho’s dark hair in greeting. So casually, as if that wasn’t the only thing Yunho would be able to think about for the rest of the day. Maybe for the rest of his life.

“Don’t bore our poor Yunho here with the details.” Hongjoong said.

“I was just trying to see if he’d volunteer to be in the crew and help us build and move sets.” Taeyong pouted innocently, turning his big baby eyes up at Hongjoong, who had yet to take his seat. “We don’t have nearly enough people on the crew, since so many people graduated last year.”

“Oh!” Hongjoong exclaimed, patting Yunho’s shoulder with a grin. “You know, that might not be that bad of an idea. Then we could hang out more! I barely get to see you outside of class since play season started.”

Yunho had pretty much already decided he was going to say yes. But he couldn’t exactly tell Hongjoong that he would drop everything in his life if it meant spending some time with him. 

“Yeah, uhh, I’ll look at my schedule and see what I can do.” He said instead, scratching the back of his head nervously. He was blinded by the sight of Hongjoong’s beautiful smile in response. Then his heart stopped when Hongjoong leaned down to pull Yunho into a hug. Rest in peace Jeong Yunho, dead from Hongjoong overload.

“Oh, I can’t wait!” Hongjoong said, bouncing on his toes, like the cute little adorable beautiful man he was. Yunho was going to die _again_. 

Ten’s fake gagging almost didn’t ruin the moment. “Can you sit down already?” He snarked. “Or are you enjoying finally being taller than him?”

Hongjoong scoffed, “You're literally the same height as me, Ten-hyung.”

Even when he was sitting and Hongjoong was standing, Hongjoong still wasn’t much taller than him, Yunho devastatingly noted. But he was kind of enjoying having Hongjoong’s hand resting casually on his shoulder, having to look up a little to make eye contact with him. He kind of wanted to pull Hongjoong in close and just bury his face into Hongjoong’s chest. 

“I guess _technically_ ,” Ten was saying, and Yunho could hear the smug grin on his face even though he was barely listening. “But you _look_ smaller than me.”

“That’s _not_ true!” Hongjoong yelled, easily taking the bait. At least Ten was mean to everyone, indiscriminately. “I look like I’m 2 meters tall! Right, Yunho?”

Hongjoong looked down expectantly at Yunho, squeezing his shoulder firmly. Yunho nodded automatically. 

“See!” Hongjoong smirked.

“Of course your giant lap dog will agree with anything you say.” Ten scoffed, raising an eyebrow challengingly at Yunho. Taeyong shoved a bony elbow into Ten’s ribs, giving him a warning look. Ten clicked his tongue, clearly annoyed, but he didn’t say anything else.

Yunho glanced nervously back up at Hongjoong, but he was just grinning victoriously, glad that Ten had been silenced. When he met Yunho’s eye, he ruffled his hair once again.

“You _are_ just a little puppy, aren’t you?” Hongjoong asked, putting on a baby voice.

Yunho held his hand up like a paw and let out a small bark. Then he immediately regretted his entire life up to that point, covering his quickly burning hot face as Hongjoong and his friends laughed.

“You’re _so_ cute.” Hongjoong said through giggles, finally taking his seat and reaching over to squeeze Yunho’s red hot cheek. 

Yunho peeled his hands off his face, smiling shyly at Hongjoong. Ten fake gagged again.

* * *

“Oh, hey Mingi-hyung!” Jongho greeted easily as he spotted the taller man lurking outside the school’s music studios. 

“Jongho-ssi.” Mingi replied curtly. He was pretending to be busy on his phone but actually he was just absentmindedly scrolling through his Instagram feed, not absorbing anything. 

“Oh my god.” Jongho rolled his eyes with a short laugh. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t have a crush on Hongjoong-hyung. You two idiots have nothing to worry about.”

“Yah!” Mingi’s calm exterior broke immediately. He pointed at Jongho with his phone. “Respect your elders, punk!”

“Sorry, idiot-hyung.” Jongho replied with false sweetness. “How long have you been waiting out here for him?”

Mingi pouted, crossing his arms defensively, “Like an hour.”

Jongho snorted, “Well, he should be out in a second.” He waved sarcastically as he exited the room. “Good luck!”

“What a little asshole.” Mingi muttered to himself as he watched Jongho’s figure retreat. Didn’t he know that all single people who spoke to Hongjoong were their enemies? No matter their supposed intentions.

“Hyung! I’m so glad you’re here!” Mingi gasped as he saw Hongjoong finally opening the door to the room Jongho just left. 

“Oh, Mingi!” Hongjoong replied, a little shocked by Mingi’s loud gasp.

“Do you think you could help me with this track?” Mingi asked, pouting at Hongjoong as if he had to beg to get Hongjoong to do something he loved. “I’ve really been having trouble with it…”

“Yeah totally!” Hongjoong replied without hesitation, flashing Mingi the brightest smile ever. “I actually just finished up my time, but you know how I hate leaving here.”

“Well, lucky for you, my time just started!” Mingi smirked, grabbing the knob on the door Hongjoong just closed. 

He had been pretending to need help with his music for a while now to spend time with Hongjoong. Honestly, it was probably getting a bit too obvious that he actually knew what he was doing. He had already taught himself a lot about producing and composing before he even entered school and considered himself pretty far ahead of his classmates. But if Mingi was good at anything, it was playing dumb. 

A little over an hour later, the door abruptly opening tore both of them out of the little bubble they had created. Mingi turned to glare at the open door, he was in the middle of making Hongjoong laugh by telling him about a song he wrote in high school about orange juice. How dare someone just interrupt them!

“Sorry, but I’ve been waiting for like five minutes.” The person who opened the door said, sounding more than a little annoyed. “Your time is up.”

“Oh, sorry, we’ll get out of here!” Hongjoong took initiative to apologize. He hastily started packing up his stuff while Mingi sulkily saved his work, not wanting to say goodbye to Hongjoong just yet.

Mingi continued pouting the whole time the two of them made their way down the stairs and outside the building. He was about to try to figure out a way to hug Hongjoong goodbye without it being weird when the other man spoke up.

“Hey.” Hongjoong placed his hand on Mingi’s arm, looking up at him with a surprisingly serious expression. “You know, you’re a lot better than you give yourself credit for.” 

Mingi blushed. Sure, he did technically already know that, but it was still nice to hear. Especially from someone as talented as Hongjoong.

“Thanks hyung!” He preened. “So you think I should perform the orange juice song for our professor then?” Mingi wiggles his eyebrows cheekily.

“Ahh… maybe not that.” Hongjoong sighed, trying to hold back his laughter.

“Hyung, come on,” Mingi whined, poking his cheeks as he cutely squeaked out the lyrics. “Sweet and sour orange juice~” 

“If you stop, I’ll buy you ice cream.” Hongjoong offered, smiling so sweetly up at Mingi. 

“Yes!” Mingi suddenly perked up, throwing his arm around Hongjoong a bit too enthusiastically and jostling the smaller man a bit. “That would be great! Thanks, hyung!”

The two of them ended up in the small ice cream shop on campus, because the dining hall was closed for the night. Unfortunately, because the dining hall was closed, the shop was full of students. The two of them walked for a bit after getting their ice cream before finding an open bench outside to sit on.

“Hyung, why do you only paint your one nail?” Mingi asked, sticking out his own pinky in reference to Hongjoong’s ever changing nail color.

Hongjoong blushed a bit, though it was kind of hard for Mingi to tell since it was getting pretty dark out. 

“Ah, it’s a little… silly. Or, well, it’s not silly at all but… Okay, it’s this thing called The Polished Man campaign. It’s about child abuse.” Hongjoong explained, holding his pinky out for Mingi to examine the color. There was a light next to them, but it wasn’t really helping much. It was like, kind of purple, kind of red. “Did you know one child dies every five minutes as a result of violence? Painting one nail is supposed to get people to ask you about it so you can start a discussion and get people to donate to the cause.”

“Wow, hyung, you’re so cool!” Mingi exclaimed. Hongjoong was looking down at his ice cream as if he was embarrassed. “Why would that be silly?”

“Well, I don’t know...” Hongjoong shook his head. “You usually hear about celebrities doing it, since they have more of an audience to broadcast the message to. I’m just some normal guy, it’s not like I’m doing that much for the campaign. But it just makes me feel good.”

“Hyung, you’re not just some normal guy.” Mingi insisted, grabbing Hongjoong’s shoulder to get the other man to look at him. “You’re _amazing_. As soon as my mom sends me some money this month, I’m gonna make a donation.”

“Mingi!” Hongjoong chuckled, shoving Mingi’s arm lightly. “You don’t have to do that. I know most college students don't have that much money to spare.”

“No way, I’m totally gonna do it.” Mingi insisted, shoving Hongjoong right back. “I’ll get Yunho to do it too.”

Hongjoong stilled at the mention of Yunho, cocking his eyebrow. “Wait, Yunho like Jeong Yunho? Really tall? Goofy smile?”

“Uhh, yeah?” Mingi replied slowly, “He’s my roommate?”

“Wow, that’s so crazy!” Hongjoong gasped, his eyes widening adorably in wonder. “I know him!”

Mingi tilted his head slightly, not unlike a confused puppy. He never really considered the fact that Hongjoong might not know that he and Yunho were roommates. But it’s not like he ever saw them together or anything. He guessed he never really mentioned Yunho before...

“Wow… that’s… crazy!” Mingi said after a moment of deliberation. He decided he didn’t know how to explain to Hongjoong that he and Yunho already knew Hongjoong knew both of them without revealing just how often the two talked about him. It was better to just avoid the awkward situation entirely.

“Yeah!” Hongjoong grinned, nodding vigorously. He had his little fist balled up in excitement and it was resting distractingly on Mingi’s thigh. “He’s in my art class. He’s _really_ sweet.” 

“Really?” Mingi responded. Interesting…

“It’s so funny that you guys know each other.” Hongjoong mused quietly, looking down fondly at his now mostly melted ice cream. He started mixing up the dregs at the bottom, looking a little shy.

“How so?” Mingi asked vaguely, desperately wanting Hongjoong to reveal more intel. This was unprecedented territory.

“Just…” Hongjoong laughed awkwardly, shyly tucking a piece of long brown hair behind his ear. “Um, I mean, I just became friends with both of you recently. And you’re both like… tall…”

“Wait, we’re friends?” Mingi asked, cheekily bumping his shoulder against Hongjoong’s and bouncing happily in his seat. 

“Shut up! Of course we’re friends!” Hongjoong scoffed, lightly slapping Mingi to stop him from shaking their bench. “You’re my sweet baby dongsaengs. Almost all my friends are older than me, it’s nice to baby someone every once in a while.”

“You can baby me whenever you want.” Mingi said, slouching in his seat to place his head on Hongjoong’s shoulder as if to prove his point. The angle was awkward, but Mingi would stay there forever if he could. “I’m very baby.”

“I know you are, baby.” Hongjoong replied softly, patting Mingi’s cheek briefly. “Yunho is too.”

“You think so?” Mingi asked. Most people didn’t really realize Yunho was baby, that was privileged information. His height was very misleading, not to mention his intensity when he danced.

“Yes, absolutely!” Hongjoong nodded resolutely. “He was so shy when I first met him. I think he was a little out of his element in that art class. Ten-hyung and Taeyong-hyung definitely weren’t helping. But even now that he’s broken out of his shell, he’s just like an overgrown puppy.”

Mingi stayed silent for a moment, just enjoying resting his head against Hongjoong’s shoulder. The way he was talking about Yunho… it really seemed like he might actually like him back. That was something he should have been considering, that Hongjoong might eventually choose one of them over the other. Maybe he should try harder to get Hongjoong to like him? But that felt… wrong. This was never really supposed to be a competition for the two of them, because obviously Hongjoong wasn’t a prize to be won. 

He guessed if Hongjoong wanted to date Yunho, he’d just have to be okay with it. 

But maybe… he wouldn’t tell Yunho this one piece of Hongjoong intel.

* * *

Usually Mingi ended up drunk in a karaoke room watching Woosan do their usual routine to Fake Love by BTS at least once a month. He was convinced the couple choreographed pair dances to BTS songs as some kind of weird sex foreplay. Every time they heard BTS blasting in the room next door, they knew exactly what their friends were getting up to.

Wooyoung and San were their suitemates. Their two dorm rooms were connected by one small bathroom they all shared. Fortunately, the four managed to hit it off pretty quickly. Wooyoung and San were high school sweethearts who literally never spent a second apart from each other. It was probably unhealthy, but it seemed to work for them. They actually introduced Yunho and Mingi to Yeosang, who had also gone to high school with them. 

Usually Jongho went out with them all when karaoke was involved, much to Yunho and Mingi’s chagrin. Not only was he their sworn enemy, but he also destroyed everyone’s karaoke scores easily. Who even sings so seriously during karaoke anyway? Fuckin’ theater kids. But Jongho couldn’t make it tonight, for some undisclosed reason. Mingi bitterly suspected it had something to do with Hongjoong.

Yeosang was the least drunk out of the five of them in the karaoke room. They had pregamed at a bar before they headed to the karaoke place, and Yeosang only had one beer. Mingi was pretty sure he just liked being able to make fun of everyone else when they were drunk. 

Now Mingi, on the other hand, was an all or nothing kind of guy. So he was already shitfaced and hanging all over Yunho, who had a hot red flush permanently coloring his cheeks. Maybe because of the alcohol, maybe because of Mingi, maybe even because of the way Woosan were eyefucking each other.

“Yeosangieee…” Mingi whined, unwrapping himself from Yunho to drape his long arms around Yeosang’s shoulders instead. The other man quickly rejected Mingi’s advances, scooting over so Mingi flopped right down onto the couch. Mingi pouted up at him, “Why couldn’t you just invite Seonghwa-hyung to come out with us so we can hang out with Hongjoong-hyung?”

Hongjoong’s name had a Pavlovian effect on Yunho, who had been copying the dance moves to Fake Love in his seat, but he stopped as soon as he heard the name. His head snapped to Mingi and Yeosang like an obedient puppy to listen to their conversation. It was Hongjoong Time now.

“I told you why, Mingi.” Yeosang replied bluntly. He _had_ already given Mingi a couple excuses why, but Mingi didn’t believe any of them.

“Why can’t you tell me the truuuth?” He whined again, stomping his feet childishly.

“Seonghwa hyung…” Yeosang sighed, hesitating. “He— He doesn’t like hanging out with strangers.”

“We’re only strangers _because_ he refuses to meet us!” Mingi huffed, sitting up so he could cross his arms petulantly. “I don’t get it. Doesn’t he want to meet his boyfriends’ friends?”

“He _has_ met my friends.” Yeosang corrected. “He knows Woosan and Jongho. Just… not you two.”

Yunho laughed, finally joining in on the conversation himself. “What, does he _hate_ us?”

Yeosang said nothing.

“Wait, d-does he?!” Panic struck Yunho’s tone.

“What the fuck!” Mingi gasped, grabbing Yeosang’s thigh accusingly. “He doesn’t even know us!”

“EXCUSE ME!” Wooyoung shouted into the mic, making them all groan at the volume. “Can you _please_ pay attention to us while we’re performing?!”

“I’ve literally seen you guys perform Fake Love so many times, I think _I_ could do it.” Mingi slurred back with a roll of his eyes. 

“Oh I’d _love_ to see you TRY, Song Mingi!” Wooyoung yelled, pointing a finger aggressively at the taller man. “You might know the moves, but you’ll never match the _passion_ that Sannie and I have!”

San grabbed Wooyoung’s shoulders before he could lunge after Mingi. “Come on, baby. We don’t need them.” He said sweetly into Wooyoung’s ear, smiling placatingly as he restarted the song. The two did their signature handshake and chanted out a Latin phrase as the song intro played, extra as always.

But before karaoke machine V could even finish his opening lines, Yunho was already back to giving Yeosang puppy dog eyes.

“Why does Seonghwa-hyung hate us?” He got up and sat on the other side of Yeosang, so he was trapped between him and Mingi on the couch.

“Look, this is all you’re getting.” Yeosang finally relented. “I’m not about to air all of my boyfriend’s private fucking business but he’s just… very protective of Hongjoong-hyung.” 

“H-he knows we like Hongjoong-hyung?” Yunho asked, his red flush somehow growing darker and spreading to his ears. Honestly, Mingi thought the other boy was so _fucking_ cute when he was embarrassed. Recently, Mingi seemed to be noticing it so much more. It was… distracting.

“ _Everyone_ knows you like Hongjoong-hyung.” Yeosang rolled his eyes. “Earlier you two literally spent five minutes talking about how sexy his ears are.” 

“I don’t really remember saying that but I’m _so_ right.” Mingi slurred, leaning against Yeosang as he reminisced on the seemingly limitless collection of pretty jewelry Hongjoong owned just for his seven ear piercings. He was so hot… It was a good thing Mingi was too drunk to actually get a boner right now.

The music for View by SHINee started and Yeosang abruptly stood up, causing Mingi to fall over again. He landed squarely on Yunho’s lap, surprised to find a pillow there. Mingi glanced up at Yunho’s red face, but the other man was looking straight up at the ceiling. 

Mingi didn’t really know what he was trying to accomplish, but he pressed his head down harder against the pillow. The action made Yunho gasp, bringing a bony hand up to cover his mouth. He still refused to look down at Mingi. Seems like someone was also thinking about Hongjoong’s pretty ears…

Just when Mingi was about to say something, probably stupid that he’d really regret later, Wooyoung’s yelling saved him. 

“Mingi!!” He screamed at the top of his lungs. “It’s your turn! What do you want to sing?!”

Yeosang was done already? The concept of time was really escaping Mingi. Maybe he had a little _too_ much to drink. 

He stood up, wobbling on his feet as he made his way over to the small low-rise stage. He could still see how red Yunho’s ears were, even from afar and in the dark room. Maybe he should do his best friend a favor.

“Put on Into The Unknown, please.” Mingi said, speaking into the mic even though it was only activated when the song actually started playing.

Wooyoung and San let out twin high pitched cackles, knowing exactly the performance Mingi was about to give. San picked up the remote, rushing to type it out.

“One of us has to do a ballad, since our poor Jongho-ssi couldn’t make it.” Mingi announced as the haunting music started.

By the end of the song, his throat was hoarse but Yunho was clapping and cheering along with the rest of them gleefully. Mingi dramatically bowed as he machine tallied up his score, beaming with the euphoria of making his friends happy. They all screamed as the machine declared a whopping 96 points.

“That’s concrete proof that thing doesn’t work!” Yeosang jeered.

“Yah!” Mingi yelled back, puffing out his chest proudly. “Elsa wants what I have. You're just jealous! What was your score again?”

“Maybe if you actually paid attention for once in your life you’d know!” Yeosang snapped, though he was clearly amused by the fact that Mingi seemed to be actually upset.

“It was a 79!” Wooyoung shouted, giggling wildly as Yeosang glared at him.

“Alright, alright,” San said, putting his arms out as if they were all going to actually fight. “Come on, our time is almost up and I want to hear Yunho sing.”

“Ah, no...” Yunho waved his hand, trying to shrink back into the corner where he was sitting. 

The group quickly started a chant of “Jeong Yunho” in surprisingly good sync as the three of them all tried to grab Yunho’s arms to drag him up on stage next to Mingi. Even under the garish purple lights shining in the stage, Mingi could tell his best friend’s ears were bright red. He couldn’t take his eyes off them, it was like he was getting even more drunk.

“Come on.” Mingi pressed the microphone into Yunho's hand, staring deep into his friend’s eyes. “I want to hear you sing that Block B song.” He felt like his head was spinning as Yunho giggled nervously in response. 

“I’ll do it if you sing with me.” Yunho conceded, spinning around trying to find the second mic. The rest of them cheered while San scrolled through the songs on screen.

“Are you sure?” Mingi asked. 

Yunho’s eyebrows furrowed, as if he didn’t understand why Mingi was asking that. Honestly, Mingi kind of felt like _he_ didn’t know why he asked it either. He was definitely going to have to skip his classes tomorrow. 

“Of course.” Yunho responded with a sweet smile anyway, as he handed Mingi a mic. 

The group erupted into cheers as the opening for Very Good started playing. Yunho and Mingi quickly slipped into their characters, banging their heads aggressively to the rhythm. Yunho practically screamed all the vocals while Mingi fumbled through the rapping.

Unfortunately, the karaoke machine did not reward them for their enthusiasm, and they received an abysmal 78 points. Yeosang launched out of his seat in victory as he was finally out of last place. Mingi fell to his knees in despair while Wooyoung howled with laughter at his misery.

“It’s alright, buddy.” Yunho said, trying to hold back his own laughter as he rubbed Mingi’s back. “We’ll get them next time.”

As was customary for their karaoke nights, the one with the lowest points had to buy late night convenience store snacks for the rest of the group. They all quickly gathered their things, excited to mooch off Yunho.

“I’ll pay half.” Mingi said quietly to his roommate as they all stumbled out of the karaoke place and onto the streets.

“It’s fine, dude.” Yunho shook his head, smiling at Woosan running ahead of the group like children and having to run back when the other three refused to follow them. “It was my turn.”

“Yeah, but I picked the song and sang it with you.” Mingi argued.

“But you literally got the most points tonight.” Yunho squinted at his friend. He didn’t really know what Mingi was trying to do here. Usually he would be going out of his way to get out of having to accept responsibility. If Yeosang had lost, Mingi would have made sure to find the most expensive food available at the convenience store.

“So?” Mingi shrugged defiantly.

“Nah, don’t worry about it, man.” Yunho denied again, shaking his head with finality.

Mingi still ended up stuffing some cash into Yunho’s back pocket at the checkout.

* * *

It didn’t take much for Yunho to convince Mingi to come help with the school musical. Basically all he had to say was Hongjoong would be there and he immediately dropped his plans to sit in his boxers watching anime for the rest of the night. They probably needed to score a few points with Hongjoong and his friends anyway, especially since Seonghwa apparently hated them.

When the two of them walked into the theater, it was already full of people bustling about. Yunho quickly scanned the crowd and spotted Wooyoung and San, attached at the hip as always. They were part of a small group standing on stage watching a girl give a very emotional performance. 

“I know Grizabella is traditionally played by a woman but I’m _just_ saying I can sing Memory better than most of the people here.” Jongho was furiously whispering to San as Yunho and Mingi approached the group.

San placed a comforting hand on Jongho’s back, “I know baby, but they already assigned the roles.”

“Yo!” Mingi said loudly in greeting, holding his hand out for Wooyoung to high five. A couple of the people listening to the girl sing turned to glare at him, but the girl just kept going like a true professional. Mingi waved sheepishly at them in apology.

“You guys made it!” Wooyoung replied excitedly, as quietly as possible for him. “If I had known all we had to do was drop Hongjoong-hyung’s name to get you here, I would have done that a long time ago.”

“What’s going on?” Yunho asked, his voice at a respectable volume. The girl had just finished her performance and most of the people in the group were clapping for her. Except Jongho who had his arms crossed firmly, staring the girl down.

Her eyes narrowed as soon as she noticed him, “What? Still think you can do better, Jongho-yah?”

“Oh please,” Jongho scoffed, shaking off San’s warning hand on his shoulder. “I _know_ I can, Jeongyeon-noona.”

With the heated glances the two were exchanging, Yunho was a little worried Jongho was really about to deck this woman. Maybe he should be helping San subtly hold him back. 

“By all means, show us how it’s done then.” The girl, Jeongyeon apparently, gestured for Jongho to take her spot on the small raised platform she was standing on. The small crowd that had gathered let out a chorus of oohs at the challenge. 

“San-hyung, play the music.” Jongho practically ordered as he confidently replaced Jeongyeon in front of the group. San fumbled getting his phone out of his pocket, replaying the instrumental track that was playing before. It seemed to be coming from a small bluetooth speaker that was sitting on a box behind Jongho.

Yunho listened respectfully as Jongho started singing what sounded like the exact same song Jeongyeon had just sung. He’d never heard it before, but it sounded pretty much like any other ballad from a musical he’d ever heard. Especially considering he only knew musical ballads because he heard Jongho sing them at karaoke.

Mingi was getting antsy at Yunho’s side, clearly bored just listening to Jongho sing, even though he sounded amazing, as usual. He couldn’t get entranced the way the rest of the crowd seemed to be. He looked around the theater, trying to spot the brown mullet that was the reason he even came here in the first place. But tragically, Hongjoong was nowhere to be found.

Mingi tapped Yunho’s arm only to find his friend was fully engaged in Jongho’s performance. The younger man was belting now, clearly at the climax of the song, and Yunho was… crying? Mingi snorted, but as he looked back around at the other people listening, they all seemed to be having similar reactions. Even the girl that had just performed before Jongho.

Soon, the music died down and the group burst into applause once again. Yunho was frantically wiping his eyes and looking around to see if anyone noticed his tears. Mingi smirked in response when Yunho met his eyes, earning a shove from his friend.

“Maybe he _should_ be Grizabella.” Wooyoung joked quietly, but he nervously took it back when suddenly all the girls in the group were shooting death glares at him.

The girls were all surrounding Jeongyeon who looked very upset as Jongho smugly stepped down from the platform. Mingi saw one girl mime slitting his throat behind his back. 

“Hey, so, uh,” Mingi awkwardly addressed Woosan, wanting to get out of this situation immediately. “Where’s Hongjoong-hyung?”

“Oh my god, that really is the _only_ reason you two volunteered, isn’t it?” San scoffed, crossing his arms. 

“And what about it?” Mingi challenged.

“Hongjoong-hyung works with the lights and sound crew.” Wooyoung explained. “We never even really see him.”

Just when Mingi was about to loudly shout that the two had been _hoodwinked_ into doing this, two unfamiliar men approached them. Well, unfamiliar to Mingi, but one of the men, the one with faded pink hair, seemed to know Yunho. He ran his hand down Yunho’s arm in greeting, only making the taller man stiffen awkwardly.

“I’m so glad you guys could make it!” He said excitedly, before turning to blatantly check Mingi out. “So, you’re Mingi?”

Mingi nodded, straightening his spine to look more presentable, “At your service.”

“I’m Taeyong, I’m one of Hongjoong’s friends.” He explained, running his hand down Mingi’s arm too. “I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“You have?” Mingi asked eagerly.

“No, that’s enough of that.” The black haired man next to Taeyong said, waving his hand. “That’s not what you’re here for. If you’re not going to seriously help us build sets, don’t bother coming back.” He said bluntly, pointing his finger accusingly at both Yunho and Mingi.

“Oh my god, Doie, at least introduce yourself to them first.” Taeyong scolded with an exaggerated pout, grabbing the man’s shoulders before doing it himself. “This is Doyoung, he’s basically in charge of this whole thing. He takes his job _very_ seriously, so I apologize for him, in advance.”

“What _exactly_ is wrong with me taking my job seriously?” Doyoung shot a glare at Taeyong, who just shook his head innocently as if he never said that.

“Mingi-yah! Yunho-yah!” 

The two turned in the direction of the voice calling out their names from across the theater. They were very happy to see the object of their affections excitedly running up to the stage to meet them. 

“You guys actually came!” Hongjoong was a bit out of breath by the time he got to them. He was just as adorable as always, dressed in a white shirt and red plaid pants that matched his cute little red beret. His smile fathered a bit as he looked up at the two of them. “Wow, it’s so weird seeing you two next to each other. What are you so damn tall for?”

Yunho chuckled sheepishly at the comment, but next to him Mingi stood up on his toes to make himself even taller.

“Yah!” Hongjoong yelled, giggling as he slapped Mingi’s chest playfully. “Do you guys want me to show you around?”

“Yes please!” Yunho nodded enthusiastically.

Hongjoong paused to look at Doyoung hesitantly, as if asking for permission. Doyoung sighed, shooting a glare at Taeyong, who just gave him an expectantly look back.

“One tour.” He said firmly. “Then I need to show them what they’ll actually be doing around here.”

“No problem, Doie-hyung!” Hongjoong winked before grabbing Yunho and Mingi’s arms in either one of his hands and pulling them away. 

“So you already met Doyoung-hyung and Taeyong-hyung.” Hongjoong explained once they were in a bit more secluded section of the stage. “They’re basically running the whole show around here. Taeyong-hyung likes to act like it’s all Doyoung-hyung’s job, but he’s the only thing keeping Doyoung-hyung from going crazy and killing everyone here sometimes.” Hongjoong laughed.

Across the stage, Doyoung and Taeyong seemed to be in a heated conversation. Then, almost as quickly as it started, the heat died down and the two were laughing. Taeyong placed a chaste kiss on Doyoung’s cheek, then slapped his ass before running off the stage with Doyoung shouting after him.

“Yeah…uh...” Hongjoong chuckled awkwardly. “They’re boyfriends. Pretty much everyone here is gay… so I hope you’re not like, too uncomfortable.”

“Why would we be uncomfortable?” Mingi asked, frowning.

“O-oh, uhh,” Hongjoong was flustered as Mingi and Yunho looked down at him with matching confused expressions. “I mean, I don’t know. Because you guys are straight.”

“We’re not straight.” Yunho replied quickly, shaking his head aggressively. Hongjoong thought _he_ was _straight_?! He looked at Mingi for help, but he seemed just as distressed. All this time Hongjoong didn’t even know they liked guys?! 

“We’re both bi.” Mingi further elaborated. As if that made up for all this time Hongjoong spent not even realizing they were flirting with him. Were they _that_ bad at flirting?

“Oh! That’s nice!” Hongjoong replied, his face almost as red as his hat. “I’m, uh, just gay.” 

He coughed awkwardly as Yunho and Mingi continued to try to communicate with each other through just their facial expressions. “Yeah, I mean, you guys know about like, Wooyoung and San. Chaeyoung is doing makeup and costumes and her girlfriend Mina-noona is working with the choreography mostly.”

Hongjoong was pointing at a girl with short hair and a flannel shirt that she seemed to have written some English words on herself. She was laughing with some of the girls from before, who seemed to be less distraught over Jongho’s talent now. She had her arms draped around the shoulders of a girl with long brown hair.

“Yeah, I mean, we’re all gay.” Hongjoong reiterated. 

Yunho and Mingi were still locked in a silent argument over Hongjoong’s head. How were they supposed to proceed under these conditions?! It felt like they were back at square one. They might as well have just met Hongjoong. And now they were making things weird by staying quiet for so long! One of them needed to say _something_! 

“Good!” Mingi took it upon himself to finally break the silence. “I think it’ll be nice being around other gay people! For once!” He laughed awkwardly at his stilted joke.

“Aren’t you guys best friends with Wooyoung and San?” Hongjoong asked, chuckling a little as he thought for a second, “Actually, you’re also close with Seonghwa’s boyfriend too, right? Wow, maybe _I_ was the stupid one for assuming you guys were straight.” 

Both the boys immediately launched into protests at Hongjoong’s self-deprecation. 

“No, I mean, we do _look_ straight.” Yunho insisted, gesturing at his outfit of a fluorescent yellow t-shirt and some old track pants.

“Yeah, and like, we do like girls too.” Mingi nodded along.

“Anyone could make that mistake.” Yunho continued, waving his hand flippantly.

Hongjoong was rendered speechless, he looked back and forth between the two men before looking down at his boots bashfully. When he looked back up, he was smiling again. He reached up both of his hands to pinch one of each of their cheeks.

“You two are too sweet.” He said, while just mercilessly squeezing their cheeks. “Now if you’re done teasing me, we can go on with the tour.”

Mingi had tears in his eyes after Hongjoong released his cheek. He rubbed it soothingly, looking over to Yunho who was in a similar boat, but oddly seemed much happier about it. He was hiding a wide smile behind his hand while the other hand cupped his sore cheek.

Hongjoong had already started walking away from them, and the two had no choice but to obediently follow him. 

“Dude, he didn’t even _know_ we liked guys.” Mingi whispered to Yunho harshly, pretending to have trouble catching up to Hongjoong.

Yunho just shrugged, hissing back, “Whatever. He knows now.” 

“I just don’t understa—”

Mingi concerns were cut short when they were suddenly right next to Hongjoong. He had stopped and was waiting with his hands on his hips for the other two to catch up.

“Am I moving too fast for you?” He asked, his eyes twinkling mischievously.

“Of course not Hongjoongie-hyung!” Mingi exclaimed, swiftly wrapping his arms around Hongjoong and lifting him off the ground. If Hongjoong couldn’t tell he was flirting now, Mingi didn’t know what else he could possibly do.

The shorter man thrashed in his grasp, shouting out in protest. But Mingi just held his waist tighter, bouncing as if Hongjoong was a baby in his arms. He yelped out in shock when he suddenly felt a pressure on his bicep. The pressure of Hongjoong sinking his _teeth_ into Mingi’s arm. But the jacket he was wearing saved him from the brunt of the pain. 

“Yunho-yah! Save me!” Hongjoong called when Mingi didn’t release him even after being _bitten_.

Mingi heard the sound of Yunho’s giggles, and suddenly Hongjoong was being tugged out of his grasp. In front of him, Yunho had somehow managed to grab Hongjoong’s legs in one arm and his shoulders in the other, with Hongjoong’s arms wrapped around Yunho’s neck.

Hongjoong playfully stuck his tongue out at Mingi, after successfully escaping his clutches. But now he was just trapped in Yunho’s arms instead of Mingi’s.

“Oh my god,” Hongjoong whined, kicking his feet aggressively when Yunho didn’t release him. “I will kill you both.”

The two taller men laughed at his threats. Until Hongjoong grabbed a fistful of Yunho’s hair, making him yelp and abruptly set Hongjoong’s feet safely on the ground again. 

Hongjoong immediately aimed an attack at Mingi, slapping his back with both hands about a million times. But Mingi couldn’t take his eyes off Yunho’s reddening cheeks. He rubbed the back of his head where Hongjoong had tugged his hair, looking embarrassed by the way he had reacted. 

Once Hongjoong was done slapping Mingi, he wasted no time doing the same to Yunho. 

“Kim Hongjoong!” Doyoung’s angry yell made all three of them freeze in place. He was standing at the opposite side of the stage, but they could feel the heat of his glare. Everyone in between them stopped to watch the scene. “Are you doing a tour or are you fucking around?”

“T-they started it, Doyoung-hyung!” Hongjoong called back. Yunho and Mingi gasped as they were thrown under the bus. 

“Do I look like I care who started it?!” Doyoung fumed. “Either actually give them a tour or stop wasting my time!”

“Yes, Doyoung-hyungnim.” Hongjoong replied, bowing professionally towards Doyoung, who walked off with a huff.

“I can’t believe you guys got me in trouble.” Hongjoong pouted, turning back to Yunho and Mingi. Yunho looked a little ashamed of himself, but Mingi just looked proud.

“Well, I believe you owe us a tour.” Yunho said, trying to be helpful. He didn’t want to keep Hongjoong from his actual work he had to do in the theater. Plus, Doyoung was scary.

“Right!” Hongjoong clapped his hands together officially. He gestured over towards where the crowd of girls he’d pointed out earlier were standing. “I’ll introduce you to Chaeyoung, she's in charge of costumes. She’s super cool, she’s actually the reason I got into reforming clothes.”

Once he was focused on the task at hand, Hongjoong made quick work introducing Yunho and Mingi to the whole cast and crew of the musical. All while explaining the basic premise of Cats, so they were slightly less lost. 

“Wait, so, what exactly is a jellicle cat?” Mingi asked. 

At least five people around him sighed and no one answered.

* * *

Usually, for _normal_ people, when you walk in on your roommate shirtless with his pants halfway shoved down and his hand in his underwear, you would apologize and leave him to his business. But Mingi and Yunho always were anything but normal.

Mingi had walked in, saw Yunho in his compromising position, and hastily threw his bag onto his bed before throwing himself onto Yunho’s bed on the opposite side of the room. He pressed his hand down against his own rapidly growing erection, groaning loudly right next to Yunho’s already reddening ear.

“Hongjoong Time?” Mingi asked. Yunho never thought he’d heard those words in that tone, but here they were. The question was apparently rhetorical because Mingi continued talking without a response. 

“You saw him today right?” He asked breathlessly, fumbling trying to undo his belt. 

Yunho was frozen, his hand wrapped around his dick, still hard of course. Because yes, he _did_ see him. It was unusually hot that day and Hongjoong had taken it upon himself to not only wear shorts, revealing his beautiful and surprisingly muscular calves, but also a crop top. A sinful delight for everyone to rest their eyes upon.

“Yes.” Yunho groaned in response, finally unfreezing and squeezing his hand tighter around himself. “His belly button…” 

Even if Yunho had the capability to finish that thought, he couldn’t do it because Mingi cut him off with a loud moan in triumph as he finally got his pants off. He kicked them off the side of the bed, his underwear following quickly, and then his shirt too for good measure. Mingi leaned his bare back against the cold concrete wall of their dorm. He could feel the heat radiating off his half naked roommate, even though they weren’t actually touching.

“How is he so sexy?” Mingi whined, disgustingly licking his whole hand before stroking himself to full hardness as quickly as possible. “The second I saw him I knew I was gonna have to jerk off as soon as I got back here.”

Yunho whimpered, still not entirely processing what was going on. He and Mingi had never jerked off together like this before. Or at least, not _knowingly_. But it kind of made sense right? They were both here and fantasizing about the same thing after all...

He had that same thought as his friend upon seeing Hongjoong’s abdomen earlier. The shirt was clearly a crop top, but since he was so short it wasn’t actually cropped that high on him. Yunho just got a tantalizing glimpse of skin every time Hongjoong raised his arms. It drove him crazy, ever so slowly. Yunho knew he’d have to _relieve some tension_ after his class was done.

“He’s such a tease. Do you think he does it on purpose?” Mingi asked, as if he could read Yunho’s mind. He was slowly shifting closer and closer to the other man, nearly resting his head on Yunho’s shoulder as he spoke.

“He has to know what he’s doing.” Yunho agrees, finally speaking up. He wasn’t used to talking while he did... _this_. Usually he just tried not to make any sound at all, too used to having a sleeping roommate in the room. “I swear he caught me staring at one point and smirked, my dick twitched.” Yunho blushed at the words coming out of his own mouth, then even harder at Mingi’s responding groan.

“Dude, fuck,” Mingi finally slowed down his hand, which was moving at frankly an alarming rate. Yunho didn’t know what he was in such a big rush for. Then Yunho felt his heart rate kick up as Mingi scooted closer to him, until their thighs were touching.

“You can take your underwear off too, you know.” Mingi said, trying to sound confident but still coming off a bit cautious. “If you want… I mean, it’s nothing I haven’t seen before.”

That was true. The two of them pretty quickly became comfortable with seeing each other in various stages of undress. Neither of them were particularly modest. But it had never been like _this_. 

“Only if you want to. Don’t feel pressured.” Mingi suddenly added, coming to his senses a bit.

Yunho felt a little bad that his silence was making his friend panic. He kicked off his already half removed sweatpants, then hesitantly started pulling his boxers off, lifting himself up off the bed just a bit. Then he just kind of sat back down, awkwardly waiting for Mingi to say something again. But his friend next to him was just staring blankly at his erection.

“Dude, what the fuck! Your dick is huge!” Mingi finally exclaimed, taking his hand off himself. For a moment, Yunho was terrified that Mingi was going to grab his dick, which he was _not_ prepared for, but luckily he stopped himself. Mingi just clenched his hand that was hovering tantalizingly over Yunho’s thigh.

“Holy shit.” Yunho said in response, covering his reddening face with his sweaty hands. “Don’t say shit like that.”

Mingi just continued, “I swear it didn’t look that big when you were soft. You’re bigger than me, dude! And I _know_ I’m not small.”

“Please shut up.” Yunho, desperate to change the subject, reached over to his desk at the head of his bed and pulled open the drawer. He grabbed his little bottle of lube and threw it at Mingi. “Use that.”

“I mean, I wasn’t really planning on fingering myself or anything, bro.” Mingi said, examining the bottle in his hands.

“You can use lube just to jerk off too, idiot.” Yunho explained, snatching the bottle out of his friend’s hand and opening it. “You know, instead of your gross spit.”

He squeezed some onto his own hand, then wrapped his hand around his slightly flagging erection. He groaned at the temperature, but it warmed up pretty quickly as he spread the lube all over his dick.

“My spit isn’t gross!” Mingi countered, but nevertheless grabbing the bottle himself and drizzling the lube straight onto his own dick. “Oh what the fuck, it’s so cold!”

Yunho huffed out a laugh, finally starting to lose himself in the pleasure of his tight fist around his cock, despite the distractions. For a moment the only sound in the room was their heavy breathing and the slick sounds of lube.

“What do you usually think about?” Mingi leaned in and murmured into Yunho’s ear. “When you think about him.”

“Uh…” Yunho’s hand stilled, he didn’t really know if he wanted to share that. “I-I don’t know. I just like, think about him.”

“Oh come on.” Mingi pouted, scooting even closer, so their hips were touching. “You have to have some kind of fantasy.”

“Hmm…” Yunho groaned, his brain confused because he wasn’t used to having contact with another human while masturbating. Was this still masturbating? Were they having sex? What qualifies as sex exactly?

“Maybe you think of… his ass.” Mingi said. Yunho could feel their shoulders pressed together, he could feel Mingi’s arm moving as he stroked himself. “And his thighs, you can always see them so clearly in those tight little blue jeans he wears. He’s so effortlessly sexy. I’ll bet you want to just destroy him with that big dick of yours.”

Yunho breathed out harshly through his nose, still habitually trying not to make any noise. Mingi was going to drive him crazy talking like that.

“Or maybe… you want him to destroy _you_? Huh?” Mingi teased, his lips brushed against the shell of Yunho’s ear, making the other man shudder. “Hongjoong-hyung is tiny but he’s feisty. You like when he tells you what to do, don’t you? And when he treats you like a puppy and praises you when you did well.”

A loud moan escaped Yunho’s mouth without his permission. He could feel his ears burning red with embarrassment at his subconscious exposing him. 

“Oh!” Mingi chuckled in delight at the sound. “I see how it is. You’re just a big baby who wants to be someone’s dumb slut, huh? You have that big cock and you don’t even know how to use it. You need someone else to take charge, baby?”

Yunho nodded frantically, his hand speeding up against his dick. “M-maybe not the slut thing.” 

“I’m sorry, baby.” Mingi whispered, pressing a kiss to Yunho’s temple easily. As if nothing about this was weird as hell. “Can I…”

Yunho saw Mingi’s hand creeping into his line of sight again. He rested his fingers hesitantly on Yunho’s wrist, which was now deathly still holding his dick. He felt a bit of precome oozing out at the thought of having a hand that wasn’t his own on his cock. It had been a while, and Yunho only had a couple of sexual partners before. He knew, a little too well maybe, that Mingi had gotten around a lot more. He definitely knew what he was doing. Slowly, Yunho released himself, giving Mingi silent permission to take over. 

Mingi’s touch was hesitant at first, the other man just trying to get a feel for what Yunho liked. He pressed his thumb firmly against Yunho’s slit, watching as he pulled away with a string of precome sticking to his finger. Yunho whimpered at the sight.

“You’re so sexy, baby.” Mingi was again in his ear as he found his rhythm. “If hyung saw you like this, he would lose his mind. I’ll bet he wants to take control of you, that’s why he bosses you around so much. He loves having such a big dumb baby wrapped around his little finger.”

Yunho was thankful that Mingi was next to him and not in front of him. He didn’t think he could bear to face him while he was saying things like that. Speaking Yunho’s fantasies into life as if they were actually possible. He brought his non-lube-covered hand up to hide his face.

“Oh don’t cover yourself up, baby.” Mingi instructed, grabbing Yunho’s wrist and pinning his arm down. “Hongjoong-hyung is going to want to see your face when he wrecks you.”

“Fuck.” Yunho gasped as Mingi’s grip tightened, he closed his eyes, trying to imagine that Mingi’s hand was Hongjoong’s. But he knew Hongjoong’s hand was smaller… Maybe if Hongjoong was just also in the room, watching the two of them. Yunho groaned at the thought, feeling another burst of precome leak down the side of his dick. Mingi’s hand deftly collected it, spreading it across the sensitive head.

“He would sit on your lap so you were face to face, making sure you keep your eyes on him. He’d just grind down on you until you lost all control.” Mingi said, conquering up a vivid image like it was his job. “He wouldn’t even get naked, just rubbing your big useless cock against his clothed ass, never letting you actually touch his precious skin. You can feel his hole clenching through his jeans, but if you try to jerk up into it, you wouldn’t be a good boy. I’ll bet you want to be a good boy for your Hongjoong-hyung, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Yunho replied quietly, his voice practically a whimper. He had tears at the corners of his eyes, the pleasure of Mingi’s little fantasy was overwhelming.

“He would bring you right to the edge, then stop you just before you came so you didn’t ruin his nice clothes.” Mingi gripped the base of Yunho’s cock in real life, as if replicating the feeling he’d be feeling in the fantasy. Yunho felt the tears escaping his eyes and running down his flushed cheeks. “Then while you came down, he’d slowly take off his clothes. Painstakingly removing every piece of clothing, while you’re sitting there desperately leaking in your underwear. Maybe he’ll take out just your pathetic dick and sit down on it, but never letting you actually enter him. He just slides your cock between his cheeks, until you’re begging for more.”

Mingi’s hand was moving so slowly up and down Yunho’s dick while he spoke, he really felt like he _was_ about to start begging. It was like everything was way too much, but simultaneously not enough. 

“Hyung would make you wait until he came first before you even got to stretch him open.” Mingi continued, egged on by Yunho’s quiet whimpers. His hot breath fanned across Yunho’s ear and neck, making everything feel so much more intense as he slowly jerked Yunho off. ”Then he would ride you, going excruciatingly slow because he’s still sensitive from his own orgasm. You’d just have to be patient and wait for him to make you come, like the good boy you are, baby.”

“Mingi, please.” Yunho barely squeaked out. Those two words were thankfully enough to alert his friend that he was close. Yunho’s breath stuttered as Mingi abruptly picked up the pace.

“Is the baby gonna come?” Mingi asked teasingly. He was breathing short puffs of air against Yunho’s neck, like this was getting him off too, just talking Yunho through this. “Maybe Hongjoong wouldn't let you. Maybe he’d take you right to the edge again and then just stop.”

“Please… don’t.” Yunho groaned breathlessly, hoping his tone was still serious enough. He did not want to be edged, not right now anyway.

“Aw, don’t worry, I’ll leave that to hyung.” 

Yunho had a stream of tears running down the sides of his face as Mingi’s strokes sped up to a nearly fatal pace. He gasped as he felt his orgasm finally hit, his body bending in half and trapping Mingi’s arm between his torso and thigh. Mingi was trying to stroke him through it, but could barely move his hand. As Yunho came down, he leaned back against the wall, feeling his sticky jizz spread all over his dick and stomach and legs.

“Gross.” He groaned softly, running his clean hand down the mess on his stomach.

Mingi’s hand was also covered, but he seemed to be using it to finish jerking himself off.

“Oh shit, sorry dude!” Yunho said, shaking his head hazily. “Let me do it.”

“It’s fine.” Mingi huffed, jerking himself so fast Yunho felt like his own arm was going to cramp up. He reached his hand across to his friend anyway, resting it on top of Mingi’s own hand around his furiously red neglected erection.

“I’m sorry I kept you waiting so long, my dude.” Yunho apologized softly, half talking to Mingi and half talking specifically to Mingi’s dick.

“Hey, you’re insane.” Yunho said as Mingi finally removed his hands and just let his friend take over. “I can’t talk like that the way you can. But Hongjoong-hyung would think what you just did was so sexy. I’m like an embarrassment compared to you.”

Mingi moaned unashamedly at the compliments, giving Yunho an idea.

“Maybe you just want to be his good boy too. That’s why you could so easily come up with that whole fantasy.”

“Aw fuck!” Mingi shouted as he finally came, shooting even more jizz all over Yunho’s hand. They needed to shower as soon as possible.

“I’m glad we could establish that we’re both a couple of good boys.” Mingi slurred deliriously, giggling at himself.

“You better fucking hope Hongjoong is actually into that stuff, bitch.” Yunho shot back, trying to figure out what to do with all this jizz on his hand when his brain was still all stupid from his orgasm. “We're gonna get our hopes up for nothing!”

“It’s not like he’ll ever like us anyway.” Mingi pouted.

“Don’t say that. You’re so cool and sexy.” Yunho said, wearing a matching pout on his own face. 

Mingi smiled fondly, “You’re the one who’s cool and sexy.”

Yunho blushed a little at his words, as if the other man hadn’t just fully jerked him off. Which, holy shit, that just happened.

“T-that Hongjoong Time was a little… Um, are we like, good?” Yunho asked tentatively, still awkwardly holding his hand up as the jizz slowly dried. “Maybe we should talk about this.”

“Whatever man, we’re just bros helping each other out.” Mingi shrugged, still sounding a little cum-dumb. “It doesn’t have to mean anything. We’re jerking off in the same room about the same guy, doesn’t it make sense to do it together?”

“I… I guess.” 

Mingi had said it so confidently, Yunho didn’t really know how he could dispute it. Plus, maybe he just didn’t really want to.

“Come on, we have to shower.” Yunho said, finally slapping his cum covered hand against Mingi’s bare chest. Mingi screamed in protest as Yunho pushed himself off the bed, actually losing his balance for a moment because his legs were apparently made of jelly now.

Mingi whined, reaching his hands out like a toddler, “Carry me!” 

And what was Yunho gonna do, say no? He grabbed Mingi’s legs in one arm and wrapped the other arm around his slim waist, struggling to lift the tall boy off the bed. Mingi excitedly wrapped his arms around Yunho’s neck, trying to hold tight and help the other man as much as he could. 

“Princess Minki!” Mingi sang softly, tucking his nose into Yunho’s neck. 

He was way too heavy for Yunho to actually carry him anywhere too far, but they made it to the small bathroom their room shared with San and Wooyoung’s room next door. Luckily, Yunho knew the two of them were almost always at practice for the musical. A blessing, because they’d never let Yunho and Mingi live if they heard what just went down in their dorm.

“Okay, you’re gonna have to stand in the shower, princess.” Yunho said teasingly, his voice a bit strained as he quickly grew tired of holding up this grown man. 

Mingi pouted, but swung his legs out of Yunho’s grasp anyway, planting his feet on the ground. But he didn’t let go of Yunho’s neck, and Yunho didn’t remove his hand from Mingi’s waist. For a moment the world seemed to stop in its tracks as they looked at each other.

“Well, are we gonna get in the shower or what?” Mingi broke the moment, his voice wavering a bit.

“Yeah.” Yunho whispered, finally letting go.

* * *

Maybe softly singing Memory from the hit musical Cats under his breath while painting a giant cardboard trash can wasn't exactly what Mingi had in mind for how he was going to spend nearly all his free time for the next few weeks, but he couldn’t say he _hated_ it. He’d grown pretty fond of the whole production of the musical, and was no longer completely crushed when an entire rehearsal went by without even getting to see Hongjoong. Though, it still sucked that the object of his affections was trapped up in the lighting and sound booth. Like, how much work had to even be done up there?

“You better watch out.” Yunho said as he snuck up behind Mingi holding his own cardboard cutout of a trash can to paint. “If Jongho hears you singing his song, he’ll rip your head in half with his bare hands.”

That only prompted Mingi to start belting out the climax of the song even louder. Only a couple people in the room even bothered to glance over in his direction, far too used to at least one person belting out that song once a day. Mingi honestly couldn’t even remember what the other songs sounded like, it felt like that was the only one that mattered.

Next to him, Yunho was snickering as he placed his own supplies on the stage floor in front of him. How they went from helping build sets because they’re big strong men, to painting cardboard props was beyond Mingi’s comprehension.

“Remind me again why these trash cans are so fucking huge?” Mingi asked, holding up his cardboard cutout that was nearly 2 times the size of a regular trash can. 

“They’re _cats_ ,” Yunho explained, launching into a recitation of Doyoung’s exact words the first time Mingi asked that. “They’re supposed to be the size of regular cats, so the set has to be bigger to give the illusion that they’re small.” He sighed exasperatedly to match Doyoung’s usual tone, then quickly burst into giggles.

Mingi answered with an eye roll, exactly the way he responded when Doyoung said it. He placed his trash can back down and resumed his painting. It wasn’t long before he was back to quietly mumbling the lyrics to Memory again. 

“Will you shut up, dude?” Yunho huffed out a harsh sigh, pointing his wet paintbrush accusingly at Mingi. “I hear enough of that damn song at home with you.”

“I can’t help it!” Mingi insisted, smacking Yunho’s brush away from his face. “It’s permanently stuck in my head now.”

“You got paint on my shirt, you dick!” Yunho exclaimed, lifting up the spot on his plain black shirt where there was now gray paint.

“Oh no!” Mingi replied sarcastically, snickering to himself. “Guess you’ll have to take it off…” He shot an exaggerated wink towards his friend.

“You’d like that, wouldn't you?” Yunho aimed a flirty look right back at Mingi. 

“Maybe I would.” Mingi shot back, trying to sound confident but the way he gulped nervously gave him away. He watched as Yunho let go of his stained shirt and leaned down so he was on his hands and knees. He started doing a seductive little crawl towards Mingi, and honestly Mingi couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.

Ever since they had their little jerk off session, there had been a shift in their relationship. It wasn’t huge, but it was _there_. They had always flirted with each other before, but now it just hit different. They had yet to hook up again, but Mingi was kind of looking forward to when they got a chance to. Yunho’s dick was huge and he really wanted to see if he could deepthroat it.

Before Mingi even fully processed it, Yunho was practically on top of him, and he was laying further and further back against the stage in response. He swallowed again, it wasn’t often that he got to see Yunho like this, since he was normally so shy. It was doing it for him.

Mingi felt his lips part automatically as Yunho leaned down to bring their faces closer together. Then, all too quickly, Yunho was laughing wickedly and he dragged a paintbrush down Mingi’s shirt.

“What the fuck!” Mingi shouted, sitting up right and knocking the cackling Yunho off him. “I didn’t even realize you were holding that!”

“Sorry, bro!” Yunho was on his back laughing triumphantly. “I didn’t realize you were _that_ into me!”

“S-shut up!” Mingi so eloquently fought back. He swiftly scooped up a blob of paint on his own brush and straddled Yunho’s thighs. 

“Wait!” Yunho cried out, grabbing Mingi’s wrist just before he could actually get any of the paint on him. “I already have paint on me, asshole! I was getting you back!”

“You have a little fucking spot and I have a huge stripe!” Mingi pointed at the offending stripe on his shirt with his free hand. He shook his other hand, trying to free himself from Yunho’s tight grip. 

“Yeah, well, you started it!” Yunho grunted, he was actually having to put serious effort into keeping Mingi’s wrist contained. “That means I get to do more.”

“That’s not how anything works!” Mingi grunted back, now trying to use his free hand to grab the paintbrush. But Yunho just quickly grabbed that wrist too. 

“You two look like you’re working hard.” 

The pair froze instantly upon hearing Taeyong’s voice calling out to them. Their heads snapped to look at him, Taeyong was casually leaning against one of the various sheet music stands that were scattered across the stage. Who knows how long he had been standing there.

“We are!” Mingi lied, as if he wasn’t literally sitting on top of Yunho with his wrists restrained. The glob of paint he had put on his brush was precariously hanging on to the bristles after being shaken around mercilessly. Yunho was looking at Taeyong, but Mingi was staring at the paint, waiting for it to fall.

“We’re just settling a minor disagreement.” Yunho was explaining as the paint finally dripped down, landing with a plop right in the middle of his chest.

Mingi’s victory cry shocked Yunho into releasing his wrists, and Mingi stood up to do a little victory lap around Yunho’s body. Taeyong laughed at the scene playing out in front of him.

“You guys seem really close.” He said, nonchalantly resting his chin on his hand. 

“You could say that.” Mingi shrugged. Once he was finished celebrating, he held his hand out to help Yunho up. Their hands stayed grasped for a moment, silently making a truce.

Taeyong hummed, “How long have you… known each other?”

“Just since the beginning of freshman year.” Yunho explained, wrapping his arm around Mingi’s broad shoulders. “I walk into our dorm room and find my randomly assigned roommate already lounging across his bed with his hand down his pants.” He dug his fingers into Mingi’s side to tickle him. Mingi screamed, trying to squirm out of Yunho’s reach. 

“Fuck you, dude!” Mingi whined, running to Taeyong’s side as soon as he could escape Yunho’s clutches. “Stop telling people that! I told you I was just itching.”

“So, that’s what the kids are calling it now?” Taeyong asked, laughing when his comment made Mingi whine and run back to Yunho.

“Is the baby embarrassed?” Yunho asked in a cutesy voice, pinching Mingi’s blush colored cheek. “Does he want hyung to make him feel better?”

“Hyung my ass!” Mingi shoved Yunho’s grabby hands away. “You’re only five months older than me!” Mingi was trying to look annoyed, but Yunho had on his biggest toothiest grin, and it was just contagious. He couldn’t help but smile back every time his best friend was smiling like that.

“As cute as you guys are…” Taeyong said, finally standing up straight. “Doie sent me over here to yell at you to actually do your work.”

“Can we not take a break for a few minutes?” Mingi scoffed, “These are unhealthy working conditions.” 

“I’ll let him know your complaints.” Taeyong responded flippantly. He looked around for a bit before wandering off to bother someone else.

“Dude,” Yunho said urgently, smacking Mingi’s chest. “Hongjoong.”

Mingi looked around aimlessly before Yunho aggressively pointed at the back entrance to the theater. Hongjoong had just walked in with a few other people, he looked like he was explaining something to them. Looking extremely sexy with his headband pushing his bangs out of his eyes and the decorative suspenders hanging on the sides of his camo pants. 

“Why does he even put the suspenders on if he isn’t going to wear them as intended?” Mingi groaned, clenching his fists in an attempt to control his Hongjoong sexy fueled rage. 

“I want him to stomp on me when he wears those big ass boots like that.” Yunho countered. 

Mingi whined in response, looking down at the boots in question. He loved when Hongjoong wore giant shoes in an attempt to make himself look taller and it just didn’t work. He was so tiny...

Almost as quickly as he appeared, Hongjoong was gone again. Wooyoung wasn’t kidding when he said they barely ever saw Hongjoong at rehearsal. 

“You know, every time we get a tease of him like that, it’s almost worse than not seeing him at all.” Mingi sighed. “Maybe we should quit.”

Yunho snorted, “As if.” He shoved Mingi’s shoulder lightly, pointing at him accusingly. “You love coming here, don’t lie.”

Maybe Mingi did! He wasn’t about to admit that though. Instead, he slapped his hand down on the slightly dried paint blob on Yunho’s shirt, spreading it more across his chest. Fuck the truce if Yunho was going to rightfully accuse him of being sentimental!

* * *

Nothing could have prepared Yunho for Hongjoong coming to their art class with his hair a completely different color. He had seen pictures of Hongjoong on Instagram from before they met when he had really short blue hair, then longer red hair, but he’d only been there for Hongjoong’s brunette mullet. He was a big fan of it, he especially loved when Hongjoong tucked it behind his ear when he got shy.

Hongjoong was so _fucking_ cute.

That sentiment was multiplied tenfold when Yunho laid his eyes on Hongjoong’s bleached white locks. He also had on an all white outfit, topped off with a big fluffy white coat that came down to his knees. It probably wasn’t very practical to wear to art class.

“Angel.” Yunho’s mouth said before his brain could even approve of it.

Ten and Taeyong snorted at him but Yunho didn’t even hear it, because all he could see is Hongjoong’s sparkling eyes and his blinding smile. He lifted one of his tiny hands and ran it through his white hair.

“Do you like it?” Hongjoong asked shyly. “It took so much hard work, and conditioner.”

“Did you do it yourself?” Yunho asked in awe. 

“Yeah.” Hongjoong giggled, trying to tuck the hair behind his ears, but it was a bit shorter than before so it didn’t stay. “I always cut and dye my hair myself.”

“He does mine too.” Taeyong said, running his own hands through his recently dyed green hair. His hair color changed so often, Yunho was starting to suspect Taeyong was some kind of witch.

“Wah… hyung, you’re so cool.” Yunho said, refusing to take his eyes off the angelic man in front of him. 

“You should let me do yours sometime.” Hongjoong teased, ruffling Yunho’s hair casually. Even though that was something he'd grown used to Hongjoong doing, Yunho was still devastated every time it happened. 

Yunho just continued staring as Hongjoong removed his jacket, placing it on the back of his chair and finally taking his seat. 

“You can do whatever you want to me.” He said, still a bit dazed from the overwhelming presence of Hongjoong. “I-I mean… my hair. You can do whatever you want… to my hair.”

“Oh my gosh, really?” Hongjoong gushed excitedly, grabbing one of Yunho’s hands with two of his own tiny little hands. What Yunho did next was completely out of his control. 

“Yeah, I’m free later today, if you want.”

That’s how Yunho ended up sitting in his desk chair in his dorm with bleach burning his scalp. Hongjoong was behind him, using a hair dryer to blow hot air against the shower cap covering Yunho’s hair. He didn’t really know what that was accomplishing, but he guessed Hongjoong knew what he was doing. 

With a click, the hair dryer was turned off. Yunho could hear Hongjoong setting it down behind him. 

“Does it hurt?” Hongjoong asked, finally coming back into Yunho’s field of vision. 

Before coming to Yunho’s, Hongjoong had gone back to his dorm to change into a shirt and a pair of sweatpants that both had countless dye and bleach stains on them. Yunho only really ever got to see Hongjoong all dressed up, especially since the other man loved to look his best. But now he looked so comfy and precious, it was making Yunho yearn for domesticity.

“No.” Yunho lied, pouting. It absolutely did hurt, he felt like his scalp was throbbing. 

“Aww, baby.” Hongjoong teased, patting Yunho’s cheek briefly. “I’m sorry, but your hair is so dark. This is the only way we can get it light enough for the color to look right.”

“Can’t I at least know what color you’re doing?” Yunho asked, trying to reach for the small duffle bag full of hair dye supplies that Hongjoong had brought. It was quickly snatched out of his reach.

“No!” Hongjoong scolded. “It’s a surprise!” 

Yunho pouted again, making the other man giggle, which was good enough for him. As long as Hongjoong was happy, Yunho could take any amount of distress.

Hongjoong reached up to lift up the shower cap, running his finger against Yunho’s bleach soaked hair.

“Hmm, how are we even gonna wash this out?” Hongjoong mumbled to himself. “Do you think we can fit this chair in the bathroom? You guys have your own, right?”

Yunho nodded, “Yeah, I mean we share it with Woosan, but I don’t think they’re home right now.”

“Woosan.” Hongjoong laughed, raising an eyebrow. “Isn’t that what they call themselves?”

“Yeah, Mingi and I have taken to just referring to them as one unit.” Yunho shrugged, “It saves time.”

“That’s cute.” Hongjoong replied. Yunho figured he can blame his burning red ears on irritation from the bleach. “I’ll bet they love that.”

“Oh totally, especially since Yeosang absolutely refuses to ever say it.”

Hongjoong chuckled, “Yeosangie is an interesting one. I think he and Seonghwa are good for each other.”

“Yeah,” Yunho agreed, then he shrugged, “I mean, I wouldn’t necessarily _know_ , but Yeosang seems genuinely happier these days.”

Hongjoong seemed knowingly amused by Yunho’s vague pettiness about never having met Seonghwa in person, but instead of saying anything, he stood up and started looking around the dorm room. Yunho was actually glad Hongjoong had gone back to his place to get changed, so he had a chance to shove his dirty laundry into his scarcely used hamper and pick up Mingi’s empty chip bags.

“Is this the bathroom?” Hongjoong asked, wandering over to the door just to the left of the entrance to their room. Yunho nodded and the other man took a peek inside.

“Yeah, that chair is not fitting in there.” Hongjoong scoffed. “You might just have to bend down at the sink while I wash it out for you.”

Yunho knew logically that he could just offer to get in the shower and wash the bleach out himself. But that would involve stopping Hongjoong from touching him even more, which was not a path Yunho was interested in pursuing. 

“Yeah that’s fine.” Yunho said instead. “Is it time yet?”

Hongjoong hummed, lifting up the shower cap again and examining the area. “I guess. Let me grab my purple shampoo.”

“Purple shampoo?” Yunho asked, was that the color he was getting?

“It tones the hair.” Hongjoong explained. “Basically your hair is going to look yellow when we wash out the bleach. The purple will make it look more white so we have a better canvas to put the color on.”

“Cool.” Yunho replied, not really understanding anything he just said. 

Hongjoong laughed at him, gesturing for Yunho to follow him into the bathroom. Yunho obeyed, standing up and walking over to the other man. Usually Hongjoong had on these gigantic boots, but he took them off when he entered Yunho’s room, so he was a good few centimeters shorter than he normally was. Yunho was incredibly endeared as he noted how Hongjoong only came up to about his chin. He was the perfect height for forehead kisses!

“Okay, bend down, you giant.” Hongjoong knocked Yunho out of his fantasy harshly. He had adjusted the water to the perfect temperature and was gesturing for Yunho to lean down.

Yunho obeyed, resting his elbows on the sink and trying to get his big head under the faucet. 

“Keep your eyes closed, okay?” Hongjoong said. “Usually it’s better to wash it out facing the other way, but it would be hard for you to stay bent over backwards.”

“Right.” Yunho agreed, squeezing his eyes shut. He did not want to know the pain of getting bleach in his eyes.

“Enjoy this warm water while you can.” Hongjoong said, running his fingers through Yunho’s hair. The water against his scalp washing away the chemicals felt so good. “You’re getting freezing cold water when I rinse the dye out.”

“What? Why?” 

Hongjoong laughed at his distress. “Because warm water makes the dye fade faster. You really shouldn’t wash your hair with warm water the entire time you have the color.”

“You want me to take cold showers?” Yunho whined.

“I’m just saying, the color will fade fast otherwise. Then all this pain and effort will be for nothing!”

Yunho just whimpered in response. 

He felt the cool gel from Hongjoong’s shampoo soothing his scalp. The little head massage he was getting was almost worth all the pain. Yunho could hear Hongjoong start humming to himself as he washed the shampoo out and he was about to start yearning again. 

“After I put the conditioner in we have to let it sit for a bit so I’ll let you stand up, okay?” 

Yunho just nodded in response, lost in enjoying the feeling of Hongjoong’s touch.

“Alright, up.” Hongjoong instructed after a few minutes.

Yunho groaned as he straightened up, his neck was starting to get sore from bending over. Hongjoong threw a small towel around his neck to catch the water before it dripped down his shirt, then put his hands under the running water to wash off the conditioner.

“What do you think?” Hongjoong asked, gesturing towards the mirror in front of the sink.

Yunho was already inspecting his reflection. It was kind of hard to tell, since his hair was slicked back with conditioner, but he thought he didn’t really mind how he looked with blonde hair.

“It looks good.”

Hongjoong grinned, “Wait until I get some color in there!”

“How long have you been interested in hair… stuff?” Yunho asked, using the end of the towel to wipe away a drop of water creeping down the center of his forehead.

“Ah, to be honest, it’s kind of recent!” Hongjoong explained. “It kind of started as a weird coping mechanism but then I just really liked it. I’m always looking for new ways to express myself. It’s a lot more gratifying to do it yourself than to pay someone else to do it.”

“You’re really good.” Yunho said, gesturing to Hongjoong’s pure white locks. 

“You’re sweet.” Hongjoong replied. “I’m not actually that good. When I dyed my hair red, I was actually going for pink. I ended up just having to wait for it to fade, and it turned more orange anyway. Most of the time if you make a mistake though, you can just say you did it on purpose.” He grinned cheekily.

Yunho laughed, “Should I have trusted you with my hair?”

“Probably not.” Hongjoong replied, playfully hitting Yunho’s arm. 

The two of them were surprised when they suddenly heard the sound of a key unlocking the door. The bathroom door was wide open, so they could see as Mingi entered the room and looked around curiously at all the hair dye stuff all over Yunho’s desk. He turned towards the bathroom and his eyes widened as he saw Hongjoong.

“Mingi!” Hongjoong excitedly greeted, running out of the bathroom to hug the other man. “Yunho said you had class!”

“I did…” Mingi replied, wrapping his arms around Hongjoong’s shoulders but keeping his eyes locked suspiciously on his newly blonde friend. “It was cancelled.”

“That’s great actually! I never get to hang out with both of you at once!” Hongjoong was practically bouncing as he glanced between the two of them. “Since I’m always so busy during rehearsals.”

“What are you doing to poor Yunho’s hair?” Mingi asked.

Hongjoong gasped in offense, slapping Mingi’s arm. “He said I could do whatever I wanted to him.”

Mingi raised an eyebrow at his friend, and Yunho just pulled the towel around his neck up to his face. 

“Oh my god! Mingi! You should let me do you too!”

“W-what?”

Hongjoong was eagerly tugging on Mingi’s arm. “Let me dye your hair too! Come on, it’ll be fun!”

“Um…” Mingi hesitated. Hongjoong was looking up at him with the most adorable pleading eyes and he was truly no match for the other man. “Okay.”

“Yay!” Hongjoong cheered, running over to his duffle bag again to plan for his next victim.

Mingi took the opportunity to confront Yunho in the bathroom. The very bathroom where they showered together just a few days ago. There was a weird tension between them… Yunho couldn’t figure it out. It wasn’t there when Mingi left that morning.

“Dude, why didn’t you tell me he was coming over?” Mingi hissed, jabbing Yunho in the chest with his finger.

“Listen, it all happened so fast.” Yunho explained quickly. “He basically invited himself over. I’m a weak man.”

“What’s happened so far? What did you talk about?”

“Um, hope I’m not interrupting anything…” Hongjoong’s voice came from the entrance of the bathroom, laughing awkwardly. 

“Of course not!” Mingi insisted, smiling widely. “Did you figure out what you’re gonna do?”

Hongjoong’s smile returned to his face, clearly excited for what he was about to inflict on the boys. 

“Yes, first I’m gonna wash out the conditioner from Yunho’s hair. Then I’ll put some bleach in your hair while his is drying. Then while you process, I’ll dye his hair. Then while he’s processing we’ll wash out your bleach. Then we can dye your hair too!”

The two of them nodded along, ready to agree to anything that came out of the other man’s mouth. 

“Sounds good, hyung!” Mingi replied with a thumbs up. Hongjoong didn’t really look convinced.

“Why don’t you get changed into clothes you don’t mind getting stained while I wash out Yunho’s hair?” Hongjoong suggested.

After Mingi reluctantly left the room, Hongjoong closed the bathroom door after him. 

“Was he mad?” Hongjoong asked Yunho quietly.

Yunho shook his head frantically, “What? No! Why would he be mad?”

“I don’t know?” Hongjoong replied. “He just seemed weird and then you guys were talking… I don’t know. Maybe he was jealous.”

Yunho’s head was spinning, he must be delirious from inhaling bleach fumes. Did Hongjoong say _jealous_?

“What… what would he be jealous of? Yunho asked cautiously.

“Um…” Hongjoong hesitates, then shook his head. “I don’t know. Forget I said anything, okay? Let’s just wash your hair.”

“Right…” Yunho acquiesced, leaning down the same way he did before. He could already feel his muscles protesting the position, but he was quickly subdued by the feeling of Hongjoong’s fingers in his hair again. 

Things started running smoothly again once Yunho was sitting on his bed with his short hair wrapped up in a little towel turban. It was Mingi’s turn on the hot spot, AKA Yunho’s desk chair. He started screaming once the bleach really started to soak in, which Yunho found hilarious.

“Hyung, what the fuck are you doing to me?!” Mingi yelled, wiping involuntary tears from his eyes. 

“It’s necessary to get a good color!” Hongjoong insisted. “It doesn’t hurt _that_ bad, does it?” 

“Yes! It does!” Mingi whined, about to reach his hands up to scratch at his scalp, but they were swiftly smacked away by Hongjoong.

“I guess if your tolerance is this bad, we don’t have to go full blonde.” Hongjoong sighed. “I’ll have to pick a color that can go over the more orange canvas though…” 

“Oh no, sacrifices must be made, I guess.” Mingi replied sarcastically.

Yunho giggled, feeling content just to watch the two talk to each other. He’d never really seen them together before, only ever hearing about their conversations vaguely and secondhand. They only just briefly got to hang out that first day they joined the musical when Hongjoong gave them a tour. 

Maybe he should be jealous, watching his best friend obviously flirt with his crush, but he just felt happy. He liked seeing two people he loved talk to each other. It wasn’t like he wasn’t enjoying hanging out with Hongjoong alone, but something about Mingi being there too just… felt right. He was glad his class had been cancelled.

“Alright, Yunho!” Hongjoong announced once he successfully got a shower cap over Mingi’s hair. He rummaged through his little duffle bag and pulled out a black bottle, wiggling it before Yunho’s eyes. “Let’s get this on you quick so we can end poor baby Mingi’s suffering.”

“Yah!” Mingi wailed, but his misery went unacknowledged. 

“What color is it?” Yunho asked, trying to spot any sort of label on the black bottle.

“Don’t bother, I peeled off the label.” Hongjoong giggled mischievously as he shook his finger in Yunho’s face. “It’s a surprise! I told you!”

“I’ll just get Mingi to tell me.” Yunho teased. Behind him, Hongjoong squirted a bunch of hair dye onto his gloved hand and rubbed them together, then just smeared the dye on Yunho’s newly pale locks.

“Mingi would _never_ betray me like that.” Hongjoong insisted, looking over to where Mingi was sat clutching one of his plushies on his bed. “Right babe?”

Mingi was sulking. “I’ll do anything if it gets this shit off my scalp faster.”

“If you tell Yunho what color his hair is, I’ll never take it off.” Hongjoong threatened. 

“My lips are sealed then!”

Hongjoong cackled evilly, squirting even more dye into his hands. 

“Aren’t you supposed to like, use a brush or something?” Yunho asked as Hongjoong just continued to slather hair dye on his head by hand. 

“Like whatever.” Hongjoong scoffed. “It’s all one color anyway, there’s no need for precision. It just needs to be on the hair.”

“Won’t it stain my skin?” Yunho wondered, feeling increasingly nervous. There was no going back now.

“Nah, this brand is pretty good about not staining your skin.” Hongjoong explained. “Once I dyed my hair without gloves and my hands were only red for like half a day.” 

“Oh, that sounds promising.” Yunho sighed out sarcastically.

“Yah!” Hongjoong scolded. “Don’t be smart or I’ll put a blue handprint right on your neck!”

“Aha!” Yunho nearly jumped out of his seat. “So it’s blue!”

“N-no!” Hongjoong denied. “I’m saying I’m gonna put a completely different color handprint on your neck!”

“Oh, sure.” 

Hongjoong came to stand in front of Yunho, making sure he got the dye evenly on his front hairline. He stepped in to stand between Yunho’s spread legs nonchalantly, examining his hair closely. Yunho felt his breath stutter in his chest at having the other man so close to him. He wanted to just… reach out and grab Hongjoong’s hips, bring him even closer. But he _couldn’t_. He balled up his fists against his thighs, trying to stop them from revealing his desires.

Once Hongjoong deemed the front acceptable, he went back behind Yunho to get more dye on his hands. Yunho let out a breath he hadn’t realized he was holding as he was released from Hongjoong’s clutches momentarily. He heard a snort and found Mingi stifling his laughter behind his plushie. 

Yunho meant to shoot him a glare in response but he somehow ended up smiling right back at his friend. He just couldn’t help it, he liked when Mingi was happy, even when it was because he was making fun of Yunho. Mingi could snicker at him all he wanted if it meant it was distracting him from the bleach on his scalp.

Soon Mingi had the bleach rinsed out of his hair, and was subsequently horrified by the resulting ginger color that came from it. But he was happy to not be in pain anymore, even though he didn’t appreciate also having his future hair color kept secret. Especially now that Hongjoong was doing much better at keeping it quiet. 

Yunho chuckled quietly to himself as Hongjoong applied the brightest red hair dye to Mingi’s head. He was in such a good mood. He couldn’t remember feeling this happy without getting stupid drunk in a while. When he glanced at his phone, he realized hours had passed without any of them even noticing.

“Oh shit, it’s getting late.” Yunho said, a bit reluctantly. “Don’t you have to be back at your dorm before a certain time, Hongjoong-hyung?”

“Whoa, is it really that late already?” Hongjoong asked, his eyes widening in shock.

Yunho turned his phone around so they could see the time displayed on the screen. Hongjoong seemed really embarrassed that he let time slip away from him like that.

“Oops…” He mumbled, as he looked through Mingi’s hair to see if he missed any spots. “Sorry I stayed so long. I guess I was having too much fun.”

“Don’t be sorry, hyung.” Mingi said, Hongjoong couldn’t see the frown on his face. “We’re having fun too.”

“Yeah?” Hongjoong asked, as if it wasn’t completely obvious. “I feel a little silly. I don’t know how to explain it, I feel like I haven’t been able to really… let loose like this in a while.”

Mingi and Yunho looked at each other, both a bit upset by Hongjoong’s words. They quickly reached a silent mutual agreement.

“You can always let loose with us, hyungie.” Yunho cried out, ramping up his cute voice as he rested his chin on his fists.

Hongjoong was giggling again at the display. It made Yunho’s heart soar to see him happy. He wished he could permanently erase all sadness from Hongjoong’s life.

“Seriously, hyung.” Mingi continued, turning so he was facing Hongjoong. “We’re two dumbasses, don’t be afraid to be goofy and stupid around us. That’s our whole thing.”

“Yeah…” Hongjoong smiled fondly at Mingi, then turned to shoot the same look at Yunho. “That’s what I love most about you guys.”

Once Mingi’s head was wrapped up in a shower cap, Hongjoong rushed to the bathroom to wash out his supplies in their sink. 

“I brought over my cleaning bleach to give you guys.” He called out from inside the bathroom. “I don’t really need it right now since my hair is white. But you can get your own, you literally just need a basic bleach cleaner to get the stains off the shower walls and floor.”

Yunho inspected the spray bottle of cleaner that Hongjoong had set on his desk next to his bag. He was wondering what they would need it for. Cautiously, he sniffed the nozzle. It sure was bleach. It smelled different from the hair bleach though.

“So yeah, you guys can wash out your hair whenever you want.” Hongjoong quickly explained, exiting the bathroom with a handful of now clean supplies. “It’s a conditioning formula so leaving it in will be good for the fact that we just fried your follicles with bleach. It might stain your towels so you’ll want to use ones you don’t really care about. Also, avoid white shirts until after a couple washes. And please, only use cold water when you wash it, or it will fade really fast.”

Hongjoong was speaking so fast it was hard to pay attention even if they wanted to. Yunho was trying to be supportive, but all this information was going in one ear and out the other. Mingi wasn’t even pretending to listen. 

“Don’t wash your hair for at least three days.”

“Three days?!” Mingi was outraged. 

“Yes.” Hongjoong replied firmly. “You shouldn’t be washing your hair every day anyway. It’s bad for it.” 

“Excuse me?” Mingi scoffed, “How is it bad to be _clean_?”

“I can’t get into this with you right now.” Hongjoong was hastily shoving things back into his bag. “I really can’t believe I lost track of time like this. I have work to do, the shows for the musical are gonna start tomorrow night. I can’t be goofing around like this.”

“Hey, hey, hyung, relax.” Yunho said softly, grabbing Hongjoong’s shoulders in an attempt to calm him down. He didn’t realize just how much the other man had worked himself up while he was in the bathroom. He looked like he was on the verge of tears. “You’re allowed to take a break sometimes.”

“Isn’t that a nice thought...” Hongjoong chuckled bitterly. He was looking up at the ceiling, trying to get the tears out of his eyes and avoid meeting Yunho’s concerned gaze.

“There’s nothing wrong with taking some time for yourself.” Yunho was suddenly reminded of whenever Ten and Taeyong would complain that Hongjoong never wanted to go clubbing with them. “Don’t you ever take a break?”

“O-of course I do!” Hongjoong sputtered defensively, pulling away from Yunho’s comforting hands. “Sometimes Seonghwa and I get wine drunk and have a good cry together. Though… we haven’t really done it in a while. Since he started dating Yeosang.”

“You deserve to relax, hyung.” Mingi said. Both boys were surprised when that simple statement seemed to make Hongjoong actually start crying.

“You two are sweet.” Hongjoong said shakily, wiping under his eyes before the tears could travel very far. Yunho was starting to resent being called sweet when clearly Hongjoong actually meant _naive_. “I really have to get out of here now, but um… thank you. For everything. Really.”

Hongjoong hurriedly dipped out of the room, leaving Yunho and Mingi stunned and dazed in his wake. Neither of them had been prepared for this next level of intimacy they seemed to unlock with the other man.

“Bro…” Mingi said softly, just staring blankly at their shut door.

“Bro.” Yunho agreed.

* * *

They only actually put on four shows for the musical. On Friday and Saturday night, then Sunday morning and night. Months of work all culminating in just three days of actual performance. Mingi and Yunho weren't involved in the actual production, so they only showed up to the last performance, just to watch. 

Mingi felt like the two ended up way more involved in the school’s musical than he originally intended. He thought maybe they’d come around like once a week to talk to Hongjoong. Instead, they ended up at the theater almost every day and they almost never got to talk to Hongjoong. But they couldn’t exactly just ditch Taeyong, and Doyoung would probably have a conniption from stress if they just bailed. Plus they started bonding with the rest of the cast and crew, it was kind of fun. Mingi was lowkey considering suggesting that he and Yunho sign up for the next production.

Mingi was a bit surprised when they got the invite to come to the wrap party after the last performance. But Doyoung insisted that they had proven themselves to be much more valuable than _some people_ who were officially in the crew from the beginning. He didn’t know who he was shading and quite frankly he was a little afraid to find out.

They showed up to... somebody’s apartment that was just off campus. Trying desperately to look nonchalant with their bright red and light blue hair. The two had barely a few feet from the door when they were accosted by Doyoung and Taeyong.

“Is _that_ why you guys were wearing hats tonight?” Doyoung asked loudly instead of a greeting, clearly already drunk despite the party starting a half hour ago. “Hilarious. You two really are pathetic for him.”

Taeyong shoved a sharp elbow mercilessly into Doyoung’s side. His boyfriend moaned in pain, draping himself over Taeyong’s side in response. Mingi and Yunho just watched in awkward silence as Taeyong pointedly ignored his dramatics. 

“Hey, uh, is Ten-hyung gonna be here?” Yunho asked, trying desperately to find a way to salvage this encounter. “Mingi has been wanting to meet him!” That was a bold-faced lie, but luckily Mingi didn’t call him on it.

“No, sorry,” Taeyong replied, shoving Doyoung off, but still steadying him when he stumbled. He patronizingly pet Doyoung’s cheek, “Tennie and Doie can’t be in the same room or they’ll kill each other.”

“Yah!” Doyoung protested, trying to pull away from Taeyong’s hand but almost falling over in the process. “ _He’s_ the one that can’t control himself! I’m cool!”

“Alright, Doie, babe, that’s enough.” Taeyong steered his slurring boyfriend away from the two. “Your hair looks good, by the way.” He gave them a thumbs up before leaving.

“Does it?” Yunho asked, turning to his friend and self consciously picking at the blue strands of his bangs. 

“Yes. Now stop touching it.” Mingi replied firmly, smacking his hands down. “You look sexy, baby.” He said, jokingly wiggling his eyebrows.

“If you don’t shut up!” Yunho threatened, but he was laughing at his friend's antics. “At least I don’t look like a clown.” He teased, brushing Mingi’s slightly curly vibrant red hair out of his face.

“You said I was cute!” Mingi whined in betrayal, moving out of the way of Yunho’s hands. 

“I’m sorry,” Yunho apologized sincerely, grabbing Mingi’s hands and intertwining their fingers. “I promise, you’re adorable.”

“Hey guys!” Hongjoong chirped as he approached them. He was already down an entire glass of champagne and he was a lightweight, so a red flush was coloring his cheeks. 

“Joongie-hyung!” Mingi shouted obnoxiously, “How do we look?” He grabbed Yunho’s shoulder and tilted his head so their heads were pressed together, gesturing between the two of them.

“Oh haha,” Hongjoong laughed awkwardly, looking down at his empty champagne flute. “You guys look really cute together.” He muttered.

“What?” Yunho asked, not sure if he heard the other man right. The room was pretty loud with a bunch of drunk theater kids in it.

“Hey, I’m gonna go… get more champagne.” Hongjoong said, suddenly turning his back to them, “I’ll catch you guys later, okay?”

“Okay…” Yunho replied, sharing a confused look with Mingi.

“Did we do something, dude?” Mingi hissed.

“He’s been acting weird since he dyed our hair, right?” Yunho asked, “Like you noticed it too, right?”

“Oh, definitely.” Mingi nodded, suddenly looking worried. “Do you think he’s onto us? Maybe he realized how pathetic and whipped we are and now he’s uncomfortable.”

Yunho frowned and Mingi mirrored the expression. They never wanted to make Hongjoong upset. They thought they did a pretty good job at flirting subtly with Hongjoong while still respecting him as a friend and person and not only a potential lover.

The two of them tried to venture further into the living apartment, which seemed to be full of drunk theater kids dancing to loud K-pop music. Mingi stopped them when he saw Jongho chatting up a skinny boy away from the rest of the crowd in the living room.

“Who the fuck is that?” Mingi asked, looking at Yunho who just shrugged in response. They knew pretty much everyone there, the only reason there would be an unfamiliar face is because someone brought their significant other...

Jongho spotted them staring and immediately burst into laughter. For a moment, Mingi was confused, but then he remembered his hair.

“Quite the look you guys got going on, hyung.” Jongho said, wiping the tears that had formed in his eyes. The skinny boy had turned around and was clearly checking them out.

“Who’s your friend Jongho-ssi?” Mingi asked, still stubbornly refusing to drop the formalities with the little bastard.

Jongho snorted, like he was stopping himself from laughing hysterically again. He placed his hands on the skinny boy’s shoulders and presented him to them. 

“This is my _boyfriend_ , Daehwi. We’ve been dating for about two years now.” 

Daehwi twiddled his fingers at them, “Mingi-ssi and Yunho-ssi? I’ve heard _a lot_ about you guys.”

Why did everyone say that about them? Also, wait, _what_? Jongho had a boyfriend this entire damn time?! 

“What the fuck!” Mingi choked out.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Yunho asked, equally outraged. 

“We’ve been dicks to you for like, _months_!” Mingi cried.

Jongho was just cackling at them, his boyfriend seemed to be pretty amused too.

“I _told_ you I didn’t like Hongjoong-hyung.” He insisted with a chuckle. “Honestly, I thought it was funny how jealous you guys were of me.”

“I’m so sorry, Jongho-yah.” Yunho said sincerely.

“Don’t be.” Jongho waved him off. “I seriously thought it was hilarious, I could have told you I wasn’t single at any time.”

“Then I’m _not_ sorry!” Mingi proclaimed, waving his finger self-righteously. “Jongho-ssi!” 

Jongho snorted, grabbing Daehwi’s waist, “Come on, babe. I just remembered I have to go apologize to Jeongyeon-noona for being an asshole to her all play season.”

“Yeah, you better!” Mingi shouted after him.

“That kid is so fucking weird.” Yunho shook his head as he watched Jongho approach the group of girls from the musical. Jihyo was definitely going to rip his throat out.

“Look at you two idiots.” Yeosang appeared seemingly out of nowhere in front of them, a smug grin on his face. “You’ll really let that fool do anything to you, huh?”

“Why are you here?” Mingi sneered, more annoyed that Yeosang was insulting Hongjoong than himself.

“Seonghwa invited me.” 

“Why is _he_ here?” Yunho asked, Seonghwa wasn’t even a part of the musical at all.

“He’s literally best friends with Taeyong-hyung and Hongjoong-hyung, what do you mean?” Yeosang scoffed incredulously.

Then, speak of the devil, Seonghwa finally graced the two with his presence for the first time ever. He was even more ridiculously strikingly handsome than he appeared in pictures. It made sense that he would be with Yeosang, arguably the most attractive person in their little friend group. Seonghwa came walking up holding two cups. He handed one to Yeosang with a sweet smile, then turned to glare at Mingi and Yunho. 

“What?” Mingi asked, looking at Yeosang for an explanation, but his friend just shrugged. Mingi had never even been this physically close to Seonghwa and now the dude was _glaring_ at him? He didn’t really _hate_ them that much, did he?

Mingi turned to Yunho, who looked equally confused and even hurt. Which somehow made Mingi even angrier. How could Seonghwa glare at that sweet puppy face?! 

“Can we go somewhere else, Yeo?” Seonghwa said curtly in his deep voice, it sounded more like a command than a statement. 

Yeosang shrugged again, “I guess I’ll see you guys later.” He allowed himself to be led to wherever _somewhere else_ was. 

“Are we just gonna stand here being approached and immediately ditched by people all night?” Mingi asked, throwing his arms up in frustration. “I think we’ve gone through everyone we know at this point. Or should we wait here for Woosan to show up?”

Yunho chuckled lightly, trying to keep the mood light despite the circumstances. 

“Let’s go get drinks then.” He placed his hand low on Mingi’s back and guided him towards where people seemed to be getting their alcohol. “Maybe you’ll work up the courage to go talk to Hongjoong again once you’re drunk.”

“If he even _wants_ to talk to us.” Mingi grumbled. 

When they found their way into the kitchen, it was surprisingly empty. Besides a few stragglers making themselves makeshift cocktails, there was only Hongjoong, who was chugging down a full glass of champagne like it was a shot.

“Damn hyung,” Mingi exclaimed, sounding both amused and impressed. “You trying to get fucked up tonight?”

Hongjoong looked at the two of them, Yunho with his hand still resting on the small of Mingi’s back. His face crumpled into just an extremely sad expression, slamming down his empty champagne flute on the counter. After successfully breaking both Mingi and Yunho’s hearts, he stormed past the two of them out of the room.

“Dude, what is up with him?” Mingi wondered, exasperated. He wanted to go after him.

“I don’t know…” Yunho responded sadly, stopping Mingi from leaving the kitchen with a hand on his chest. He grabbed two beers out of the big cooler sitting on the kitchen floor. “Maybe we should just leave him alone though?”

“Is he really that mad at us? For what, even?” Mingi pouted, not even opening the beer Yunho handed him.

Instead, he peeked out of the kitchen and scanned the room, spotting Hongjoong sitting on a small couch next to Seonghwa. He seemed to have squeezed himself in between Yeosang and Seonghwa and was clinging onto his best friend while Yeosang looked annoyed on his phone next to him. 

“Bro, look.” Mingi hit Yunho a couple times to grab his attention, pointing at the couch.

“Is he _crying_?” Yunho asked, looking distressed.

It did look like Hongjoong’s shoulders were shaking. He had buried his head into Seonghwa’s neck while the other man was gently rubbing Hongjoong’s shoulders. Seonghwa looked absolutely pissed.

“Dude…” Mingi sighed heavily. Then he got an idea, he pulled out his phone and texted Yeosang, asking what was going on.

He could see when Yeosang got the text, then looked around to see if he could find where Mingi was looking at them. Mingi waved from the kitchen entrance. Yeosang shook his head disapprovingly once he spotted them, looking back down at his phone to text back.

“He just said “IDK”, man, what the fuck!” Mingi threw his hands up in outrage. Yeosang just shook his head again from across the room.

“Tell him to try asking.” Yunho suggested. 

Mingi quickly sent another text. The two of them watched eagerly as they watched Yeosang receive the text. He looked up at them and shook his head once more, not bothering to text back.

“Oh, now he’s gonna ignore us!” Mingi complained. “We can’t trust anyone! Do you think he’s mad at us too?” Mingi pouted, looking at his friend sadly.

“No, Yeosang never gets mad at anyone.” Yunho placed a reassuring hand on Mingi’s back. 

“Maybe we should just leave.” Mingi sighed, feeling suddenly incredibly out of place in this random person’s kitchen. “We’re not even gonna get to talk to Hongjoong-hyung.”

“Aw, come on, Woosan haven’t even shown up yet.” Yunho said, rubbing his friend’s back comfortingly. “Once they get here and we can all get shitfaced like the good old times.”

“I guess…” Mingi agreed reluctantly, crossing his arms.

As if on cue, the telltale sound of Wooyoung screaming to announce that he’s arrived rang through the room. Everyone just screamed back, apparently used to his antics. 

“Heyyy! Look at you two!” San greeted happily once the pair made their way into the kitchen where Mingi and Yunho were hiding out. “You really let Hongjoong ruin your precious hair follicles?”

“You two bitches stained our shower purple! I hope it was fucking worth it!” Wooyoung yelled with a grin on his face, waving his finger nonsensically at them.

Mingi blushed, feeling a little too exposed. Clearly, everyone could tell how whipped they were for Hongjoong. No wonder he was so mad at them. They were total creeps, following him into the kitchen after he clearly tried to ditch them. Mingi looked around frantically for something sharp, he had to shotgun this beer, _right now_.

He started pulling open drawers, ignoring his friends asking what he was doing, until he found a knife.

“Mingi, no! It’s not worth it!” Wooyoung shouted, half jokingly but also half expecting Mingi to fully stab someone judging by the crazed look in his eyes.

Mingi turned his can sideways, stabbing into it wildly and quickly placing his mouth over the spray of liquid. He fumbled trying to find the tab to open the can. It wasn’t his most impressive work, but he didn’t really care what Yunho and Woosan thought of him. They’d seen worse.

The three of them erupted into cheers once they realized what he was doing.

“Alright, Mingi, getting the party started!” Wooyoung yelled, grabbing a beer for himself and the knife Mingi had placed haphazardly down on the counter. “Let’s get it!” He screamed triumphantly as he shotgunned his own beer.

San supportively cheered for his boyfriend, but opted to pour himself a glass of champagne instead. “It’s Woo’s turn to get drunk tonight.” He explained to Yunho, who was calmly nursing his own drink in the wake of all the chaos.

Yunho shook his head fondly, “You two are disgusting.”

San smiled widely, proudly showing off his dimples, “You're jealous.”

“I am.” Yunho agreed sadly, thinking about Hongjoong practically sitting in Seonghwa’s lap out in the living room.

San frowned, detecting Yunho’s mood shift immediately. That was one of his many talents. “Are you okay?”

Yunho nodded solemnly, “I think I just need to get drunk tonight. At least it was fun while it lasted.”

“What does that mean?” San asked, but his question went unanswered. 

“Let’s _dance_!” Mingi, now two quickly consumed beers in, grabbed Yunho’s arm and dragged him out of the kitchen. “Boss is playing!”

Mingi was right, whoever was controlling the music had just started the NCT U track. The song Yunho and Mingi had to learn and perform together for class a couple months ago. Somehow, in the small living room, the crowd opened up a spot when the two of them started dancing. The theater kids were always suckers for a performance. 

Maybe Mingi was looking around a little trying to see if Hongjoong was watching. But that was nobody’s business. He and Yunho still slayed the choreography, it was practically ingrained in them. He felt a rush unlike no other when the crowd around them cheered for them. 

As the song came to an end, Mingi pulled his dance partner in for a hug. 

“You looked so sexy, babe.” Mingi happily gigged into Yunho’s ear.

“Shut up!” Yunho giggled back, clearly a bit high off the performance as well. He tried to push Mingi off, but the other man had an iron grip around his waist.

“Well I sure hope you two are fucking happy!” 

Everyone else had quickly returned to their business once Yunho and Mingi were done, except apparently Seonghwa? They broke apart, turning to face the angry voice behind them. Seonghwa looked like he was about to shoot flames out of his eyes, it was super scary.

“Um, what?” Mingi asked eloquently.

Instead of any sort of explanation, Seonghwa just let out a frustrated huff before storming off. He was quickly swallowed by the crowd of people paying no mind to their little argument. Mingi and Yunho watched in stunned silence. 

“What the fuck is going on!” Mingi suddenly yelled at no one in particular. He needed another drink. “I’m so tired of this shit.”

“What’s his problem?!” Yunho agreed, sounding less mad and more hurt than Mingi. His eyebrows were furrowed with worry as he continued looking where Seonghwa disappeared, as if he’d come back. 

Mingi needed to do two things, cheer Yunho up and to get way more drunk.

“Bet you we can find something harder than beer and champagne in this apartment.” Mingi aimed a playful wink and nudge at Yunho, his loyal partner in crime. It made him feel better just to see a grin spread across Yunho’s face.

“Hell yeah, baby!” Yunho yelled, throwing his fist in the air. “Let’s get Woosan in on this. We’re unstoppable together.”

Mingi quietly started chanting Woosan, Yunho quickly following suit as the two of them searched for their friends. Their chanting grew steadily louder until they located the couple, explicitly locking lips against a closet door. The pair obnoxiously yelled at their kissing friends until they broke apart.

“What do you want?” Wooyoung snapped, not happy to be interrupted from his current activity. San was still holding one of Wooyoung’s thighs up around his waist. 

“Help us find where the owners hid their liquor.” Mingi whispered conspiratorially.

Wooyoung, always up for a scheme, immediately let his leg drop. “Yes!” He gasped out. He and Mingi ran off to check which doors were locked in the hall.

“I can’t believe you just cockblocked me.” San let his head fall back against the closet door with a loud groan.

Briefly, Yunho sympathetically patted his shoulder, “Come on, help me open all the cabinets in the kitchen.” He started walking towards the kitchen before San could even respond.

“Why would I do that?” San questioned exasperatedly, following Yunho into the kitchen anyway. “I’m not even allowed to drink tonight!”

“Don’t you want Wooyoung to have fun?” Yunho asked, knowing he was hitting San below the belt with that line. As they walked past the living room, Yunho spotted what appeared to be Taeyong and Doyoung tangled up on the couch. He paused for a moment, trying to tell if they were making out or fighting.

Doyoung gritted his teeth as he gripped onto Taeyong’s wrists, pushing them back away from him with all his might. They seemed to be evenly matched, as Taeyong was furiously flailing his arms trying to get Doyoung to lose his grasp. 

“Should we like… stop them?” Yunho asked, a bit concerned. No one around seemed to care that they were wrestling on this couch in the living room.

San shook his head, “It’s fine. This isn’t even the worst I’ve seen from them.” He continued on their path as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

“Okay…” Yunho replied hesitantly, looking back at the two of them as he followed San into the kitchen. Miraculously, there was still no one in the room. “Thank god no one is in here!” Yunho exclaimed as he started opening cabinets.

San made a beeline to the refrigerator, getting up on the counter next to it. There was a small cabinet above the fridge, and San pulled out a bottle of soju like he knew it was there all along.

“How the fuck did you know that was there?” Yunho sputtered as San handed him the bottle. 

“This is Doyoung-hyung’s apartment, idiot.” San rolled his eyes, “I’ve been here before, so I know where he keeps the good stuff. The reason no one is loitering in the kitchen because they don’t want to face Doyoung-hyung’s wrath.”

“Bro, what would we do without you?” Yunho looked at San with wonder in his eyes. 

“Whatever.” San scoffed, grabbing the bottle back. “If Wooyoungie wants hard liquor, then I’ll get it for him. You better hope he’s in the mood to share.” San cheekily grinned as he pranced out of the kitchen, tucking the bottle under his shirt.

“Wait! San!” Yunho called out as he chased after his friend. “Come on, it was our idea!”

* * *

Slipping out of his lecture hall a bit early so he could walk Hongjoong home from his math class was actually one of Mingi’s favorite things to do. Hongjoong hated his math professor with a burning passion and Mingi loved nothing more than listening to the love of his life get all riled up while ranting about the class. Though, he hadn’t talked to Hongjoong since the musical wrap party, so he was a little anxious, bouncing on his toes as he waited for the classroom door to open. 

It had been a few months since he had gone even a day without talking to or texting Hongjoong, even just a little bit. Mingi didn’t really remember much about the party, not after they found that bottle of soju. But he remembered Hongjoong being upset for some reason, so he didn’t want to push him too hard. But it had been a few days and damn it, Mingi missed him, so fuck it, right? He couldn’t have fucked up _that bad_.

Mingi’s heart shot up into his throat when the door finally opened, students piling out and completely ignoring his presence. He anxiously searched for that telltale head of bright white hair. Mingi was about ready to resign himself to the fact that maybe Hongjoong didn’t even show up to class that day, when _finally_ the shorter man appeared. 

He looked as stunning as always, even though he was clearly in a bit of a lazy outfit. He had on a yellow beanie covering most of his hair and a loose black tank top. Mingi could tell he was tired from the dark bags weighing down underneath his eyes.

Hongjoong was shocked to see Mingi waiting for him, but not in the same happy way he usually was. He quickly looked down at his tan boots, not wanting to meet Mingi’s gaze.

“Mingi-yah… what are you doing here?” Hongjoong asked his boots.

“Um, I thought I’d walk you home…” Mingi answered, wondering if he should explain himself further as if he didn’t do this at least every other week before. He was desperately vying for Hongjoong to just _look_ at him.

Hongjoong coughed, “Oh, um, well, I have something I need to do.” He glanced around the now empty hall, as if looking for an escape. “But thanks anyway.”

“Wait,” Mingi insisted before Hongjoong could fucking bolt out of there like he clearly wanted to. Hongjoong finally made eye contact with him for a second and he just looked exhausted. “I mean, what are you up to?” Mingi asked, feigning nonchalance. 

“I… I have to go work on a song…” Hongjoong replied hesitantly.

“Oh!” Mingi perked up, Hongjoong usually loved when they bonded over music, that was his way in. “Can I help you? Or I mean, could I just sit with you and watch you work? It would help me get better!”

“I don’t know…” Hongjoong sighed, pulling his phone out of his back pocket so he had something to look at besides Mingi. “I think you might be too distracting. I really need to get this project done.”

“Oh…” Mingi responded sadly, visibly deflating. He must have fucked up big time… though he literally couldn’t recall what he did. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I was such a bother.”

Hongjoong made a small distressed noise in the back of his throat as he finally actually looked at the taller man in front of him. He rubbed his forehead, messing up his bangs a little before knocking his beanie off and placing it back on haphazardly.

“Ah…” Hongjoong breathed out harshly. “Look, Mingi, I’m really sorry.”

Mingi’s brow furrowed in confusion. Sorry? What was Hongjoong sorry for?

“I promise I’ll get over it eventually, okay?” Hongjoong continued, “You just have to give me a little space right now.”

“Um… okay… I guess.” Mingi agreed, but before he could ask Hongjoong to elaborate, the other man was hastily making up an excuse to leave. “Man, what the fuck?” Mingi whispered to himself, as he watched Hongjoong’s figure essentially running away from the scene. 

Luckily, Mingi knew Yunho didn’t have class for the rest of the day, because he needed to talk about this immediately. Emergency Hongjoong Time. He power-walked back to his dorm room, grateful to find Yunho sitting at his desk on his phone instead of looking at the homework in front of him. 

“Dude, holy shit.” Mingi groaned as he unceremoniously threw himself on Yunho’s bed. 

“What?” Yunho asked, not looking away from the game he was playing.

“Hongjoong-hyung????” Mingi replied, somehow verbally expressing four question marks specifically. 

Just the mention of his name made Yunho immediately shut off his phone and give Mingi his full attention, even though he would lose the battle he was in the middle of. He turned in his desk chair, right next to the head of his own bed where Mingi was laying. Hongjoong Time was sacred.

“What happened?” He asked. Things had been weird with Hongjoong ever since the party. He was extremely stilted with Yunho in art class, talking more with Ten and Taeyong than he had since he made friends with Yunho. He could tell even Ten and Taeyong thought something was up, but they were actually staying quiet for probably the first time in their lives.

“So I went to walk him home from his math class, you know?” Mingi recalled, resting his elbows on Yunho’s pillow as his friend leaned on the headboard of the bed. “And he was being super dodgy and kept trying to make up excuses not to hang out. Then finally he just said like, he’s sorry and he’ll get over it but he needs some space. What?!”

Yunho frowned, trying to process the words. Why would Hongjoong be sorry? Why would he need space? There could only be one reason, which Yunho had been afraid of for a while now.

“Dude, he _has_ to know we like him.” Yunho sighed, explaining his theory. “Like he realized we're total creeps but he feels bad for wanting to reject us. So he needs some space right now to see if he even wants to forgive us.”

Mingi planted his face down into Yunho’s pillow with a sad groan. He was thinking something similar, but he so desperately didn’t want it to be true. But what else could it possibly be?

“I can’t believe we finally blew it once and for all.” Yunho continued lamenting. “It was only a matter of time, bro. We were never going to get anywhere with him anyway.”

“Like, duh,” Mingi agreed, lifting his head up and resting his chin on the pillow. “But I still want to be friends with him. We can get over him… probably.”

“Yeah…” Yunho nodded, reaching a hand out to comfortingly card his fingers gently through Mingi’s hair. It was already a noticeably lighter shade of red than when Hongjoong dyed it. “I still want to be friends with him too. Maybe we do just need to give him space and he’ll come back to us. It’s not like he hates us or anything.”

“I hope he doesn’t.” Mingi sulked.

“Hey, of course he doesn’t.” Yunho insisted. He brushed Mingi’s fluffy bangs up out of his eyes. “Who could hate us? A couple of good boys?”

Mingi couldn’t help but smile back at that.

* * *

Sometimes it felt like the only time Yunho and Mingi found time to hang out with Yeosang was any time they had a test in their shared history class to study for. It was a shame because he was one of the first friends they made at university. He came as a package deal with Woosan, who were his friends in high school and yes, they’ve always been like _that_. Yeosang desperately needed padding so he wasn’t the third wheel all the fucking time.

They had their study group routine _down_. They worked in 1 hour intervals with 15 minute pauses in between. The three of them actually usually got a lot done, except when their break time went a little off the rails. It was a miracle the library hadn’t permanently banned them yet. Yunho suspected one of the old lady librarians had a crush on Yeosang. She seemed to think he was extremely sweet and she had no idea why he would hang out with the likes of Yunho and Mingi. If only she knew, he was easily the most evil out of all of their friends. The fact that he could pass as mild-mannered and nonthreatening was all part of his overall evilness.

“Hey so, are you guys dating?” Yeosang asked nonchalantly a couple minutes into their designated 15 minute sanity break. Yunho and Mingi’s eyes grew comically wide in response.

“What?!” Yunho asked, way too loudly, earning a familiar glare from the librarian. He bowed to her in apology.

“You aren’t right?” Yeosang continued, furiously typing on his phone as he quietly spoke. “I knew it.”

“Dude, what the fuck?” Mingi asked, trying to keep his voice down too. But it was a struggle when Yeosang was literally speaking nonsense.

“Sorry, Seonghwa will _not_ stop bothering me about it.” He explained, still texting, presumably the Seonghwa in question. “He got so mad at me the other night at the party because I didn’t tell him that you guys were dating.”

“Why would he think that?” Mingi asked, completely beside himself.

“Why would he be mad about that?” Yunho seconded, equally confused.

“Oh, right,” Yeosang smirked, finally putting his phone down, eager to spill some hot tea. “Get this. Hongjoong-hyung thinks you two are an item. But you’re keeping it on the down low right now.” He lifted two fingers on one hand, pointing them at the two boys. 

“Excuse me?!” Mingi all but shouted, standing up so abruptly that his chair fell over, hitting the carpet with the loud thud.

The three were quickly escorted out of the library and told to come back when they could control themselves.

“I fucking hate you two.” Yeosang said, with no real malice in his tone as they were deposited out on the area right in front of the library. Yunho knew he secretly thought it was funny when they got kicked out. Though he probably didn’t like having to hastily shove all his papers into his bag.

“Dude, you _have_ to tell Hongjoong-hyung we’re not dating.” Mingi insisted, not even deterred by the whole evacuation. “Tell Seonghwa-hyung to tell him, right now.”

“I already told Seonghwa, but Hongjoong-hyung isn’t going to believe anything anyone tells him.” Yeosang said, shoving Mingi away from where he was trying to look at Yeosang’s phone screen. “He’s already made up his mind that you’re keeping it a secret, so why would you tell anyone?”

“I just don’t understand why he thinks that at all.” Yunho sighed, shaking his head in confusion. Mingi and him? _Dating_? In what universe?!

“Uh, I do.” Yeosang scoffed. The two of them stared at him in disbelief. “Listen, don’t look at me like that. You guys are borderline Woosan level and you don’t even realize it. You’re roommates and best friends and spend every moment you can attached at the hip. It’s gotten even _worse_ lately, I’d argue.”

Yunho felt a blush quickly coloring his cheeks. He and Mingi _had_ been a lot closer lately, since their relationship had changed to something much more… _physical_ . Ever since that day when Mingi walked in on him, they had a few other… _encounters_. It was always about Hongjoong though, never about each other. Right?

“You two were practically making out after you danced together at the party. Hongjoong-hyung ran out when he saw.” Yeosang continued.

Yunho whimpered like a wounded puppy. He didn’t know that’s what had happened. That must have been why Seonghwa yelled at them afterwards. But it still didn’t really make sense.

“So… what is Hongjoong-hyung mad at us for, exactly?” Yunho wondered aloud. “Because we just thought he realized we were total creepers who were obsessed with him.”

“I don’t know what’s going on between you guys, or Hongjoong-hyung, but you need to just talk to him yourself.” Yeosang shrugged as he offered his advice. “That’s the only way anything is gonna get solved.”

Yeosang loved to act like he didn’t give a fuck what anyone did, yet he always doled out the most helpful advice. He was secretly a big softie for all his friends. That’s why he helped Mingi and Yunho as much as he could, without compromising his relationship with Seonghwa, of course. He couldn’t be _too_ selfless.

“What exactly _is_ Hongjoong-hyung so mad about?” Mingi pondered, continuing Yunho’s train of thought. “That's what I want to know. Like so what if me and Yunho were dating?”

“Bro.” Yunho gasped, slapping Mingi’s chest in realization. “He must be upset because we didn’t tell him we were together. Like, he thought we were closer than that and we could trust him, or something.”

“Of course…” Mingi nodded sagely.

“I…” Yeosang said, looking between his two friends like they were the biggest idiots in the world. And maybe they were. “I’m just not gonna say anything.”

* * *

“Hey Mingi!” 

Mingi jumped a bit, shocked to hear his name being called. He had been lingering outside the school’s dance studio waiting for Woosan for a good 30 minutes, nearly falling asleep in the chair he was lounging in. He looked around guiltily, trying to locate the source of the call. He spotted two men down the hall where the entrance to the studio was.

“What are you doing out here?” Taeyong was asking as he approached Mingi’s chair. He had very tight yoga pants on and the short man next to him had a very sexy crop top on. They were both sweaty, so Mingi assumed they were in the same class Woosan were in.

Mingi gulped, “Uh, nothing.” He lied reflexively, then realized he actually had no reason to lie. “I’m just waiting for Woosan. I mean, Wooyoung and San.”

Taeyong laughed but the scary looking dude next to him was looking at Mingi like he was worthless. It made Mingi want to shrink in his seat. He wasn’t really feeling up to his usual energy, especially with the whole weird limbo his relationship with Hongjoong had entered. Wooyoung and San had actually made their plans to play Mario Kart together in order to lift Mingi and Yunho’s spirits a bit.

“Wait, you’re Mingi?” The scary crop top man asked, pointing at Mingi with his water bottle. He nodded, looking a bit closer at Mingi contemplatively. 

“Um, yeah…” Mingi replied, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly as he was examined. 

“Ten, will you relax?” Taeyong said, placing a hand on Ten’s arm. He turned back to Mingi and smiled apologetically. “Don’t mind him.”

Ten? Mingi knew that name. He was Hongjoong’s elusive other close friend that Mingi never got to meet. He sat up in his chair, half-heartedly trying to look presentable. As if he wasn’t slouched down in his seat manspreading for the entire conversation up to then.

Ten chuckled at the action, softening up a bit. “You are cute. I get it.” He reached out and lightly touched Mingi’s shoulder. Why did Hongjoong have so many hot flirty friends?

“Get… what?” Mingi asked with a nervous giggle, tilting his head curiously. 

“Ten…” Taeyong warned, tightening his grip on Ten’s arm.

“No, you know what? Fuck this!” Ten said, suddenly exploding. “You know, Hongjoong likes both of you, he just doesn’t know what to do about it.”

“W-what?” Mingi squeaked, feeling his face grow hot at the outburst.

“Oh my god, shut up!” Taeyong was hissing as he tried to grab Ten’s other arm. “This is not your place.”

“Come on, hyung!” Ten complained loudly, “Aren't you tired of listening to him—”

“Ignore him, Mingi-yah!” Taeyong declared, then started physically tugging Ten out of the building. “Bye!”

“What the fuck…” Mingi said quietly to himself. Hongjoong liked… both of them? He didn’t know what to do about it? What could Ten mean by that? Maybe…? No. It couldn't be.

Slowly, the rest of the students came trickling out of the dance studio. By the time his friends came out, Mingi was about halfway to having a breakdown.

“Whoa, Mingi, are you good?” San asked, rushing to Mingi’s side and kneeling down next to him.

“I… Ten…” Mingi stuttered out. 

“Did Ten-hyung talk to you?” Wooyoung asked, squatting down with his hands braced against his knees. “Don’t listen to him, he’s a shady bitch who lives for the drama.”

“Yeah?” Mingi replied, looking up at Wooyoung. “Right. Yeah.” He shook his head. It meant nothing, Ten just wanted to start shit. Mingi knew that, Yunho had even told him before how weird and intimidating Hongjoong’s friends were. 

“What did he say to you?” San asked, rubbing soothing circles between Mingi’s shoulder blades. San had his contagious calming aura about him, it was impossible to feel anxious when he was around. 

“Nothing. It doesn’t matter.” Mingi said curtly, standing up and shaking San’s hand off of him. “Hey, let's get going. Those video games won’t play themselves!” Mingi exclaimed with false enthusiasm.

San frowned, he didn’t like when he didn't get to fully explore his amateur therapy sessions with his friends. But Wooyoung grabbed his boyfriend’s shoulder, shaking his head silently to tell him to just let it go. Mingi appreciated it, he did not want to be scrutinized right now.

San sighed, “Is Yunho already there? I might want to shower before the tournament.”

A couple minutes later, Mingi found himself sitting next to Yunho on the decorative rug on the floor of Wooyoung and San’s dorm room. Wooyoung was excitedly setting up their brand new Switch while San took a quick shower. 

After just a quick glance around the room, it was a surprise how different it was from Yunho and Mingi’s even though they were the exact same base. There were pictures and posters on the walls, one of the beds was entirely a display for plushies, there was even a plant thriving by the window. Just the fact that they even had a little TV was wild to Mingi, who just barely remembered to buy sheets for his dorm bed without his mother’s insistence. 

“You guys didn’t even get a rug?” Wooyoung asked incredulously when Mingi brought it up. He was looking at them with obvious disgust. “Isn’t your floor cold?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Mingi shrugged, normally he would love to pick a fight with Wooyoung, but he just didn’t feel like it. “It doesn’t really bother me.”

“I can’t believe you two are functioning.” Wooyoung snorted. He held out two small Switch controllers for them to choose from.

Yunho looked at Mingi curiously when he didn’t immediately jump to assert his dominance and pick the color he wanted. Hesitantly, Yunho grabbed the green one from Wooyoung.

“So Mingi can have pink.” He said, smiling hopefully at his friend.

“Thanks.” Mingi tried his best to smile back, reaching over to get the remaining pink controller. 

“Young-ah!” San called out from the bathroom. “Can you bring me a change of clothes?”

“You didn’t bring them in with you?” Wooyoung yelled back.

“You know I always forget!” 

“Dumbass…” Wooyoung snickered fondly to himself.

“Are you okay?” Yunho asked Mingi softly when Wooyoung stood up to find San something to wear. 

“I’m fine.” Mingi replied curtly. Yunho definitely looked like he didn’t believe him. Mingi sighed, he always was bad at trying to hide when he was upset. It was frustrating for him because he never hid how he felt, but he hated how his friends always tried to cheer him up when he was upset and it never really worked. 

Yunho nudged him with his shoulder, “Come on… aren’t you excited to absolutely wreck Woosan at Mario Kart?”

“Yeah, I’ve never lost in Mario Kart in my life.” Mingi replied, trying to match his usual level of enthusiasm. It was definitely something he’d say, but with nowhere near his usual confidence.

Yunho sighed, concerned etched onto his face. “Maybe once we start playing, you’ll feel better.” He said, not pushing Mingi any further. 

Mingi wished that were the case, but he ended up massively losing. San couldn’t even bear to give him the finger flick to the forehead that they promised the loser would get. It was obvious to everyone how quiet Mingi had been all night. No amount of light teasing seemed to be working to loosen him up.

“Alright, what’s up with you, man?” Yunho finally asked when he and Mingi were back in their own room. He nudged his friend’s arm. “You’ve been spaced out all night.” 

“Nothing.” Mingi said automatically. He flopped down face first dramatically onto his bed. 

“Bro, don’t lie to me.” Yunho scoffed. He pulled off his shirt to change into his pajamas while he talked. “You can do it to anyone else, but not me.”

“Fine.” Mingi finally conceded. Yunho was right, he shouldn’t hide stuff from his best friend. Also, this situation kind of involved him anyway. He breathed out sharply through his nose. “Ten-hyung… said something weird to me today. I mean, I was already in a weird mood, but he made it worse.” 

“Ten-hyung?” Yunho’s head whipped to look at Mingi at record speed, “Hongjoong-hyung’s friend?”

“Yeah, he was with Taeyong-hyung.” Mingi said, elaborating on all the wrong details.

“Well, what did he say?”

“He… he said.” Mingi thought back, wanting to quote Ten directly. “Hongjoong likes both of you, he just doesn’t know what to do about it.”

“What.”

“Dude, I know.”

“What did Taeyong-hyung say?” Yunho asked, abandoning his pursuit of pajamas and leaning against Mingi’s bed instead. 

“He kept telling him to shut up, then he like, dragged him out of the building.” Mingi explained.

Yunho let out a pained groan. “Ten-hyung was probably lying.” He said, definitively.

“Why would he do that?” Mingi innocently asked. Maybe he was a bit biased, but he just really wanted what Ten said to be true.

“Because Ten-hyung is _evil_.” Yunho sighed. He nodded to himself, and went back to changing his clothes. 

“A-are you sure?” Mingi sputtered, sitting up on his bed and grabbing one of his plushies to hold. “I mean… Wooyoung did say something similar.”

“Yes.” Yunho confirmed. “Yeah, he’s just… He loves teasing me about the whole thing. He just wants to mess with us.”

“But…” Mingi bit his lip, unsure what he was thinking exactly. It was like he had trained his brain not to consider _that_ possibility. That Hongjoong... “I mean, what if he wasn’t lying though?”

“That… that doesn’t make any sense.” Yunho shook his head, taking a seat on his own bed. He faced Mingi from across their dorm room, his roommate looking lost in his own thoughts. 

“I mean, let’s be realistic here.” Mingi said finally, sitting up straight and setting his plushie aside. Time to get down to business. “Hongjoong-hyung got upset because he thought we were dating. Then he said he just needed some time to get over it. Now one of his best friends says he’s liked us all along. Maybe Ten-hyung really was just tired of Hongjoong-hyung not making a move.”

“You really think _Hongjoong-hyung_ could like _us_ ?” Yunho asked incredulously. “Not even just one of us, but miraculously _both_ of us? That’s just… it’s just ridiculous, Mingi-yah.” 

Yunho looked very guarded behind his wall of skepticism, and Mingi did understand why. Hongjoong was so far out of their league, it always felt impossible that he’d ever like them back. But, it felt like they were just ignoring obvious signs at this point. Maybe the impossible wasn’t that far out of reach.

“I know! I know it seems wild!” Mingi moved so he was on the edge of his bed. “It’s just… wouldn't that be the perfect explanation to everything that’s happened?”

“I mean, logically, you’re right…” Yunho sighed, running his hand down his face. “But, Hongjoong-hyung liking us is not something I ever considered as an actual possibility.”

“Yeah…” Mingi agreed, but maybe he didn’t necessarily feel exactly like that. He did suspect a few times that Hongjoong might actually like Yunho back. If that was true, why couldn’t he also like Mingi too? They should give themselves a little more credit! “Maybe you should consider it.”

“I don’t… I don’t know if I can.” Now Yunho was the one clutching his pillow to his chest like a lifeline. “I don’t want to get my hopes up.”

“I totally get that.” Mingi finally decided to throw caution to the wind and hopped off his bed. He stood in front of Yunho, grabbing his friend’s shoulders, ready to give him the pep talk of a lifetime. “But aren’t you worried that if we don’t try, we‘ll completely lose our chance? If I’m right, then Hongjoong-hyung is probably with Seonghwa-hyung right now, trying to get _over_ us. Do you really want to let that happen?”

“N-no…” Yunho stuttered out. He looked so cute looking up at Mingi all flustered. How could Hongjoong _not_ like that face? Furthermore, how could Hongjoong not like _Mingi’s_ cute face? They were both very cute! It would be his loss not to date one them!

“Let’s just fucking go for it!” Mingi clenched his fist, letting the fighting spirit take over him. “What do we have to lose?”

“Things are already weird between us and hyung…” Yunho considered, “I guess we don’t really have that much to lose.”

“We have each other through all this, too!” Mingi insisted, tightening his hold on Yunho’s shoulders. “You know that together we can get through anything, right?”

“Yeah.” Yunho nodded, finally sounding sure of himself again.

* * *

Mingi finally worked up the courage and free time to invite Hongjoong to their dorm room a couple days later. It was very weird, considering they hadn’t really been talking nearly as much as they used to. Their text conversations that used to be filled with little memes and links to Tik Toks now completely barren except for one singular outgoing message asking if he could come to their room so they could talk. 

Hongjoong actually replied pretty promptly, saying he would be there in about an hour. Then Mingi and Yunho proceeded to freak out for the entire hour.

They were calming their nerves with cute kitten videos on Instagram when the ominous knock on their door echoed throughout the room. 

“Can we really do this?” Yunho hissed as Mingi lept to go to the door. The other man just nodded with determination, then pulled open the door before they could wimp out.

“Hi…” Hongjoong greeted quietly, shyly waving his little hand that was just barely sticking out of the sleeve of the giant flannel shirt he had on. He stood nervously at the entrance of the room, as if he was afraid to come in.

Mingi gestured widely with his arm for Hongjoong to enter, stepping away from the door so the shorter man could see Yunho looking terrified on Mingi’s bed.

Hongjoong stepped in hesitantly, as if he’d never been to their room before, even though he was just there about a week ago. He crouched down to untie and remove the platform sneakers he had on. The awkward silence was quickly filling the room, leaving them all with almost no air to breathe.

“Hi Yunho.” Hongjoong greeted once he was done, nervously tugging on the sleeves of his shirt. Yunho didn't see Hongjoong look so unsure of himself often. He kind of hated it. He _really_ hated knowing _he_ made Hongjoong feel that way.

“Hey, hyung.” Yunho responded softly, hopping off the bed and grabbing the chair from his desk for Hongjoong to sit on. Hongjoong chuckled lightly as he took the seat offered to him, still tugging at his sleeves.

“So, um,” Mingi started, taking a deep breath. Yunho looked at him and he could tell Mingi was just about at the end of his rope when it came to his false confidence. Suddenly, his own anxiety was overpowered by his sheer love for his friend.

“We need to tell you something.” Yunho took over. Mingi smiled gratefully at him. The two of them were just standing there awkwardly while Hongjoong sat on the uncomfortable wooden desk chair. 

“It’s okay, I think I know what you’re going to say.” Hongjoong interrupted, biting his lip nervously.

“Oh?” Mingi frowned, looking at Yunho in confusion. _Did_ he know already?

“You guys are dating right?” Hongjoong asked, looking up at the two of them, his smile not quite reaching his eyes. “You just wanted to tell me since you know I have a crush on both of you. It’s fine. I’m happy for you, really.”

“What? No.” Yunho sputtered, looking back and forth between Hongjoong and Mingi. He couldn’t even enjoy having Hongjoong’s _crush_ on them confirmed when it was also true that he still thought _they_ were _dating_! “Why would you even think that anyway?”

“I mean, I started to think it around the first time I saw you two together.” Hongjoong said solemnly as he shrugged. “I felt like it just got more obvious every time I saw you. And after I dyed your hair… I realized I was in a little too deep and I had to do something.”

“Didn’t Yeosang tell Seonghwa-hyung to tell you we weren’t?” Mingi asked, frustratedly crossing his arms in confusion. 

“He told me, but I didn’t really know if it was true or not.” Hongjoong explained, now looking down at his own hands twisting up his sleeves. “Like maybe you guys weren’t public yet...”

“Well, it’s _not_ true.” Yunho said firmly, kneeling down so he could try to meet Hongjoong’s eyes again. “We aren’t dating.”

“Oh.” Hongjoong replied, thoroughly confused. He frowned, still looking down at his hands vulnerably. “Well, now you know I like you, I guess.” He laughed shakily, very pointedly avoiding eye contact even when Mingi knelt down on his other side. “What did you want to say to me then?”

“It’s _you_ that we like.” Mingi answered, placing his hand on Hongjoong’s knee. 

Hongjoong finally looked away from his lap, surprised as he glanced between the two men with a confused pout on his face. He huffed out a nervous laugh, “Um, what?”

“We have a crush on _you_.” Yunho reiterated, despite feeling his ears burning red with embarrassment.

“You… both… have a crush on me?” Hongjoong asked slowly, his eyebrows furrowed adorably. They both nodded. “Oh, well, um… Wow… I don’t really know… did you want me to choose between you? I don’t know if I can... do that. I’ve liked you both for so long.”

“Oh… we didn’t really think that far.” Mingi admitted, chuckling sheepishly. 

“You both like me and you never discussed the logistics of what to do if I ever liked you back?” Hongjoong asked, crossing his arms as he huffed out a disbelieving laugh. 

“In our defense,” Yunho spoke up, “We never thought you would like us back. You’re way too good for us.”

“No, none of that!” Hongjoong scolded, shoving Yunho’s shoulder lightly with a shaky hand. “I didn’t spend months pining after both of you for you to claim some bullshit like that.”

 _Hongjoong_ pining after _them_ ? _Both_? What kind of sick and twisted fantasy world had Yunho been transported to? 

“Well, you don’t really _have_ to choose.” Mingi said suddenly.

Yunho tilted his head curiously at the way he sounded so resolute while saying that. They’d never discussed the aspect of Hongjoong choosing one of them, because obviously Hongjoong was completely unattainable right? But there was another reason too. Mingi was right, he didn’t even _want_ Hongjoong to choose between them.

“Yeah,” Yunho nodded after a moment, “We actually don’t really want you to.”

“O… kay…” Hongjoong answered hesitantly, “Um, so what then? You want me to date both of you?”

“I mean…” Mingi shrugged, “I don’t really know… how any of this… polygamy stuff works? So, maybe?” Mingi cringed a little as the word “polygamy” left his mouth, it felt like he was definitely using the wrong term. Polyamory? Maybe he should just say poly...

Hongjoong chuckles, “I know a little.” He said, holding up his finger and thumb very close to represent just how little he knows. “Taeyong-hyung is non-monogamous.”

“Really?” Yunho asked, he was shocked because it always seemed like Taeyong and Doyoung were practically married. 

“Yeah, Taeyong-hyung likes to sleep around.” Hongjoong explained. “He also loves making Doyoung-hyung jealous, and Doyoung-hyung likes when people want what he has. But at the end of the day, they’re committed to each other. It works for them.”

“I don’t… really like the sound of that…” Yunho replied hesitantly. “N-nothing against them of course!” He quickly qualified his statement, waving his hands nervously. “I’m not interested in like, doing things with strangers or anything.”

“Right.” Hongjoong nodded in understanding, finally loosening up a bit. “I’ve never really liked hooking up with random people either, like Taeyong-hyung and Ten-hyung do.”

“Look, all _I_ know is that I want to date you.” Mingi said, boldly grabbing Hongjoong’s hand. “But that doesn’t mean I want Yunho to not get a chance to date you as well. We’ve both liked you for a while, and I’ve never been rooting against him.”

“O-oh…” Hongjoong blushed as he felt Mingi’s hand squeeze his smaller one. He glanced over at Yunho and saw he was nodding in agreement. “Maybe we can just… feel things out, I guess?”

“Yeah!” Yunho tried to smile enthusiastically to mask his anxiety. “We can figure it out as we go.”

“So…” Hongjoong cleared his throat, “If I’m dating both of you, are you guys dating each other?”

“Hm…” Mingi hummed curiously, looking at Yunho as if he’d never seen him before. “I’ve never really thought about that. _Dating_ Yunho...”

“Me either.” Yunho agreed, rubbing his flushed neck. Mingi kept staring at him and Yunho couldn’t bear to meet his eyes. “We’ve just been so adamantly denying it the past few days…”

Hongjoong laughed at the exchange, smiling genuinely for the first time since he entered the room. He looked like a ton of weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Much closer to the Hongjoong they knew and loved.

“Well, logistically, you guys are already kind of dating, right?” Hongjoong said, horrifyingly nonchalant and accompanied by a shrug, “I mean you hang out literally all the time, you live together. The only thing you don’t do is kiss and have sex.”

Mingi snorted loudly and Yunho’s face almost turned purple with the force of his blush. Hongjoong’s mouth fell open at their reactions, quickly snatching his hand out of Mingi’s grasp. He looked expectantly at them for an explanation. 

“Um… well, we _have_ never kissed.” Mingi offered, “Not on the lips anyway.”

Hongjoong was scandalized, looking desperately towards Yunho, who was mortified and covering his entire face with his hands. This was it, he was finally going to die of embarrassment, he always figured that was the way he was going to go.

Mingi took it upon himself to continue, “To be fair, every time we messed around, we were thinking about you.” 

“What?!” Hongjoong squawked, smacking Yunho’s shoulder to get him to talk. “Yunho-yah?!” 

“We… we haven’t done _that_ much.” Yunho groaned, still hiding behind his hands. “It was just a few mutual masturbation sessions and a blowjob or two. It just sort of… happened… It’s very recent.” He finished his explanation as quickly as possible.

“So _that’s_ why you two seemed so close lately.” Hongjoong grumbled, crossing his arms and pouting once again. 

“Aw, don’t be all sad, baby.” Mingi teased, flicking his finger against Hongjoong’s protruding lip. “Yunho could only get off when I told him what a good boy you’d think he is.”

“Yah!” Yunho yelled, finally removing his hands from his face and using them to tackle Mingi to the floor. “I’ll kill you!” 

Hongjoong just watched from his chair as Yunho pinned a cheesing Mingi down on the hard linoleum floor of their dorm. His strong thighs were clenched on either side of Mingi’s hips, holding his lower half down as his big hands pressed against Mingi’s shoulders. Hongjoong would be lying if he said he’d never thought about the two of them… together. How could he not when he had a crush on both of them at the same time and he suspected they were dating? He was already feeling a little turned on by the idea of his two dongsaengs getting off together, and right now they were making one of his own fantasies come true right in front of his eyes.

“Hey!” Hongjoong called out to get their attention. The two giggling men stopped abruptly, turning to look at him immediately. Their prompt obedience only made the fire in Hongjoong’s stomach rage harder. “You should show me.”

“S-show you?” Yunho questioned, his ears quickly turning red again. 

Mingi took the opportunity of his opponent suddenly becoming disarmed and flipped them, locking his own thighs around Yunho’s hips. He smirked down victoriously at Yunho’s furiously blushing face.

“You guys have really never kissed?” Hongjoong asked. The two of them shook their heads in response. 

“Well, I don’t really know,” Mingi supplied, “Maybe we may have while we were drunk and don’t remember. But we’ve definitely never consciously did it.”

“Why not?” Hongjoong questioned simply. His hands were gripping the rips in the knees of his jeans, seemingly trying to stop himself from doing something else. “You were apparently hooking up anyway.”

“I never really thought about it.” Mingi shrugged, he didn’t tend to think too hard about things. He was just vibing. Mingi looked down at Yunho to silently ask for his input.

“I… I think it would make it, like, too real.” Yunho answered, looking up shyly at the man straddling him.

“Do you not want it to be real?” Mingi asked innocently.

“No, it’s not that. Sometimes... when we were hooking up, I felt kind of guilty because I thought I was enjoying it too much. Like I was… betraying Hongjoong-hyung somehow.” Yunho explained, his ears flaming red as he felt the weight of two pairs of eyes on him. “So, I don’t know, I think if we kissed I thought I might have to confront those feelings. And it was so much easier to just ignore them.”

“Yeah, I mean. I think I definitely have lowkey liked you for a while now.” Mingi confessed, feeling a little shy as if he wasn’t straddling the man he was confessing to. “But I just didn’t really think about it because I was so wrapped up in Hongjoong-hyung. But like you’re so fucking cute.”

Yunho burst into nervous giggles, “Don’t say that…”

“Why not? It’s true!” Mingi teased, grabbing Yunho’s soft cheeks with both his hands and turning his head to face Hongjoong. “Don’t you think so, hyung?”

“Of course he’s cute!” Hongjoong agreed, shifting impatiently in his chair. “Are you gonna kiss or what?”

“Wow…” Mingi said sarcastically. He took his hands off Yunho’s face and rested them on his chest instead. “Yunho, you hearing this? He only wants one thing from us.”

“Please…” Hongjoong laughed lightly. He hadn’t even noticed but he somehow ended up at the edge of his seat. He leaned back against the chair again, trying to save face. “You guys have no idea how long I’ve wanted to see you two kiss. Especially after I thought you guys were dating. I thought I was this huge pervert fantasizing about these two guys who were in a committed relationship with each other…”

“You fantasized about us?” Yunho squeaked. He was already overwhelmed by everything currently happening, and more things just kept happening! How was he going to survive this?

“How could I not?!” Hongjoong scoffed, gesturing at their position on the floor. “Look at you two!”

Mingi had his legs bracketed around Yunho’s hips and his hands pressing down against Yunho’s chest. When he looked down at Yunho on the ground under him, he had a permanent flustered smile on his face as he tried to quell his blush. He could feel from where his ass was resting mercilessly against Yunho’s crotch that the other man was already starting to chub up.

Mingi always had a sneaking suspicion that Yunho got off on being humiliated, and he definitely felt like his theory was proving to be correct. It was a little weird considering Yunho got embarrassed about ten times a day, but Mingi wasn’t about to kink shame him. Besides, he thought Yunho was his cutest when he had his hands hiding his flushed face. Mingi hadn't even realized he’d been locked in an intense gaze with Yunho before their bubble was burst. 

“Oh my god, the anticipation is killing me.” Hongjoong groaned. He was fidgeting in his chair, tapping his socked feet against the linoleum impatiently. 

“Sorry…” Yunho mumbled half heartedly, not even turning to look at Hongjoong. 

Mingi took the plunge. Not wanting to waste any more of Hongjoong’s precious time, he lowered his face down to Yunho’s quickly. But he paused just before their lips met, wanting to make sure Yunho was okay with what was about to happen. He was actually surprised when Yunho swiftly raised his head to meet him the rest of the way. 

Their first kiss was chaste, just a lingering meeting of their lips. Yunho’s neck eventually got tired and he broke away to rest his head on the ground again. Mingi chased after him just a little, again hovering just above Yunho’s lips. 

“Your lips are nice.” Yunho whispered. He brought a hand up to hold Mingi’s face, his thumb caressing Mingi’s plump lower lip. Mingi pressed a kiss to Yunho’s thumb, desperate for more. Yunho took the hint and guided him back down.

The second kiss was deeper, forgetting for a moment that they were kind of putting on a show for Hongjoong. Yunho sighed into Mingi’s open mouth, wondering why it took them so long to do this. He moved his hands from Mingi’s face to wrap his arms around Mingi’s broad shoulders, holding the other man closer. Mingi groaned, not even caring when his nose bumped into Yunho’s as he pressed more and more feverish open-mouth kisses to his lips.

“Come on…” Hongjoong said quietly, almost as if he was only saying it to himself. But Mingi heard him and he briefly detached himself from Yunho’s mouth. He breathed out a few hot breaths against Yunho’s lips. The man under him was clearly eager to continue, but Mingi turned his head to Hongjoong instead.

“You want more?” He asked.

Hongjoong inhaled sharply through his nose, nodding affirmatively. His knuckles were turning white with the force of his grip on his jeans. 

Mingi took the direction and turned back to Yunho, who seemed like he was about to start whining. When he dove back into the kiss, he obscenely introduced his tongue into the mix, making sure Hongjoong could see it. Yunho gasped at the intrusion, but quickly caught up with the game, wrapping his lips around Mingi’s tongue and sucking on it. He licked explicitly back into Mingi’s open mouth, feeling a little ridiculous but a lot turned on.

Hearing Hongjoong groan in response to their lewd display only made them both hungry for more. Mingi sunk his teeth into Yunho’s bottom lip, making the other man gasp in pleasure. 

“Holy shit.” Hongjoong breathed out, “You two are going to kill me…”

Mingi couldn’t help the smirk that took over his face in response. He continued ravishing Yunho’s mouth as pornographically as possible. He could feel so much spit gathering between their two mouths, so gross and yet so hot? Mingi didn’t have time to think about it.

“You like it don’t you?” Hongjoong suddenly said, his voice had much more power behind it than before. It stopped Mingi in his tracks. “You like having someone to show off for?”

It felt a little like a challenge, so Mingi decided to play it up even _more_. He leaned down and stage-whispered into Yunho’s ear, making sure he was loud enough for Hongjoong to hear. 

“Isn’t that what you thought of the first time, baby?” Mingi simpered, his voice breathy and sexy. “Hongjoong-hyung watching his two good boys play with each other. Knowing they’re so wrecked just by the _idea_ of him.” He said the last sentence louder, enticing a groan out of Hongjoong who slid down in his chair with his legs spread.

“Why don’t you tell hyung why we ended up together that first time?” Mingi suggested, but it sounded more like a command, and Yunho wouldn’t dare disobey. 

“Y-you were wearing a crop top that day, Hongjoong-hyung…” Yunho explained shyly. He tried to hide his face, but Mingi grabbed both his wrists and pinned them down on the cold floor above his head. Their room wasn’t exactly huge, their bodies taking up almost all the space between their two beds on either side of the room. 

“I remember that day.” Hongjoong replied, his eyes had narrowed and there was a fire behind them. When he first entered the dorm, he looked incredibly shy and uncomfortable, but now he looked confident as he smoldered at the two of them. “I was a little scared to wear it but Ten-hyung encouraged me a lot. Then when I first saw you in class, you could barely look at me. Ten-hyung and Taeyong-hyung teased you the whole time and I don’t think you even noticed.”

Yunho shook his head in response. He really _hadn’t_ noticed the other two saying anything to him. His head was empty except for thoughts of Hongjoong’s tantalizing belly button. 

“My poor baby…” Hongjoong sighed, “Big dumb baby…”

Yunho nodded frantically. He was, he was Hongjoong’s big _dumb_ baby. He could feel his erection pressing insistently against the zipper of his jeans, and he groaned at the sensation. Mingi and Hongjoong were just watching as Yunho squirmed on the floor, desperate for _anything_.

Hongjoong slid off the wooden chair, walking on his knees over to the other two. 

“I was just gonna watch but…” Hongjoong smirked as he placed his hand just above Yunho’s waistband. “I can’t help myself.”

“Please…” Yunho whimpered as Hongjoong hiked up his shirt, rubbing his hand across Yunho’s abdomen. 

“Please what?” Hongjoong asked, feigning innocence. Mingi was watching with his mouth agape as Hongjoong mercilessly teased his friend. Hongjoong reached his hand slowly up Yunho’s shirt, right up the middle of his chest.

Yunho made an unintelligible sound, his blush traveling down his neck and probably spanning across his chest. Mingi wanted him to take off his shirt, just to check.

“Hyung…” Yunho whined again. “Please.”

“I thought you were a good boy.” Hongjoong pouted, taking his hand out of Yunho’s shirt. “Don’t you want to be a good boy for hyung?”

Yunho and Mingi both let out twin moans. Finally, Hongjoong directed some attention back to Mingi.

“Are you feeling left out baby?” Hongjoong simpered, reaching out to rub Mingi’s cheek. “Do you want to be a good boy for your hyung too?”

Mingi leaned into Hongjoong’s touch, nodding eagerly. Hongjoong caressed his cheek for a moment, before his hand trailed up into Mingi’s hair. His previously bright red locks had already faded to a more muted reddish orange. Hongjoong tightened his grip, not too hard but enough to make Mingi gasp.

“You’ve been taking hot showers every day even though I told you not to, haven't you?” Hongjoong asked. Mingi nodded meekly even though Hongjoong already knew the answer. “Now, how am I supposed to believe you’re a good boy?”

“I’m sorry, hyung…” Mingi whispered. Hongjoong felt the rush of power go straight to his dick, he’d never seen Mingi be tamed like this. He pulled the hair in his grip harder.

“Hyung…” Yunho said, bringing a sudden clarity to the lust filled room. “You shouldn’t pull his hair, he doesn’t like that.”

Hongjoong immediately let go. He tilted Mingi’s chin up so he could make eye contact with him, “Is that true?”

Mingi nodded sheepishly, trying to blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes. Not only from the pain, but from Yunho speaking up for him and Hongjoong calling him out.

“You should have said something.” Hongjoong frowned. “I don’t want to actually hurt you…” He sighed, leaning back away from the other two. ”Maybe we should stop.”

“No!” Mingi insisted, he looked like he was about to reach out and grab Hongjoong, but he retracted his hands quickly. “I promise I’m fine. You didn’t pull that hard. I’ll tell you if you do anything else I don’t like.”

Hongjoong looked hesitant, “You _promise_?”

“ _Yes_ .” Mingi sighed, feeling a little embarrassed by how he reacted now that he was more collected. “And you can pull Yunho’s hair all you want. He _loves_ it!” To prove his point, Mingi grabbed a fistful of Yunho’s blue hair. The moan Yunho let out was unholy.

While Hongjoong was enticed by Mingi’s compelling argument, he still had his guard up. “I don’t know…”

“We’ve waited so long for this moment, Hongjoong-hyung.” Yunho whined, pulling on Hongjoong’s sleeve. “Don’t you want it too?”

Hongjoong took a deep calculating breath, before he slowly turned his head towards Mingi. 

“Aren’t you going to thank Yunho for saying something?” he asked. 

“O-oh!” Mingi squeaked, looking down at his best friend sprawled out on the floor in front of him. He still had Yunho’s hands held above his head, but he hadn’t been putting any pressure on them for a while. Yunho was just keeping his hands still under Mingi’s grasp. “Thank you, Yunho.”

Hongjoong clicked his tongue in disapproval, “Come on, don’t you think he deserves better than that?” He crawled a bit closer to Yunho’s head, placing his own hands over where Mingi had his wrists held down. He jerked his chin towards Yunho’s lower body. “Take off his pants.”

Mingi did not have to be told twice, he slipped his hand out from under Hongjoong’s and made quick work of unzipping Yunho’s jeans. In no time, Yunho was clad only in his underwear, with Mingi eagerly awaiting his next instruction by his side.

“Good job, baby.” Yunho praised the other man in his warm honey voice. Mingi preened, watching as Yunho looked directly at Hongjoong before looking back to Mingi to deliver another compliment. “You’re doing so well.”

“You sure are, pretty baby.” Hongjoong agreed, catching the hint. “Why don’t you show me Yunho’s cock? I’m sure you know it pretty well by now.”

Mingi nodded eagerly, pulling down Yunho’s underwear and letting his erection spring free. It slapped down heavily against Yunho’s stomach, twitching as Mingi and Hongjoong stared hungrily at it. Mingi left Yunho’s boxers tucked under his balls, not wanting to waste time pulling them off. 

“Wow…” Hongjoong muttered, looking like he wanted to touch, but he was still feeling a bit skittish. “You’re huge… Mingi, can you take all that?”

“No…” Mingi pouted because he already knew he couldn’t. Both their blowjob experiences together consisted of Mingi trying and failing to deepthroat Yunho.

“Aww, you’ve gotten better at it, baby.” Yunho comforted. “You’ve been practicing so hard.”

“I just want to make you feel good.” Mingi replied shyly. He told hold of the base of Yunho’s dick, giving it a firm stroke upwards. Yunho whimpered as precome oozed from his tip, and Mingi leaned down to lap it up. 

Hongjoong watched in silence, sitting on his knees next to Yunho’s shoulder as he held down the other man’s wrists. There was something so thrilling about seeing Mingi, who was usually such an uncontrollable brat, all pliant and subdued. He looked up at Yunho through his lashes as he sucked the tip of Yunho’s cock into his mouth teasingly. His gaze slid over to Hongjoong and his eyes narrowed, slowly sinking his mouth down further. He knew what he was doing, that evil brat was still in there.

Mingi could only make it about halfway down before his gag reflex acted up. He pulled off quickly, trying not to cough too hard all over Yunho’s dick. 

“Don’t push yourself, baby.” Yunho said kindly.

“I think he can take more.” Hongjoong countered. Mingi’s eyes flitted back over to him, accepting the challenge silently. 

Yunho gasped as the wet heat of Mingi’s mouth suddenly engulfed him once again. He looked down at Mingi, only to find that his eyes were locked on Hongjoong’s. He looked determined as he worked what he could fit of Yunho’s dick into his mouth. For some reason, that made the situation even hotter, and Yunho felt his cock pulse a shot of precome into Mingi’s mouth. Mingi moaned in response, sending a shiver down Yunho’s spine.

“Oh fuck,” Yunho whined with a shaky breath, “Mingi, you’re doing so well.”

Mingi pulled off Yunho’s dick, smiling at the praise. He stuck out his tongue and graphically swirled it around the head of Yunho’s cock, staring down Hongjoong and vying for a compliment from him too. 

“Look at the pretty boy put on a show for me.” Hongjoong teased. “You want my attention that bad?”

Mingi moaned in agreement around Yunho’s dick, making Yunho gasp as shivers shot down his spine. Mingi started slowly sinking down, his gaze firmly on Hongjoong as he pushed himself to his limit. He hollowed out his cheeks as he sucked Yunho in even further, teasing the back of his throat. 

Then he pulled off abruptly as his gag reflex was finally triggered. Tears sprang to his eyes and he turned his head away from his two lovers to cough into his fist again. 

“You… you did good, princess.” Yunho sighed out, trying to be supportive when his brain was almost completely clouded with how turned on he was. 

Mingi turned back to them in shock at the nickname that had fallen out of Yunho’s mouth. So they were really going in on the whole exposing each other’s kinks thing, huh? Mingi smiled at Hongjoong sheepishly, his spit-shined lips were red and plump with abuse. He looked absolutely wrecked with tear tracks running down his face.

“Fuck,” Hongjoong whispered. He let go of Yunho’s wrists, crawling closer to Mingi. He ran his hand through Mingi’s hair softly, then gently down to cup his cheek. “You’re so good for hyung. You really want to make Yunho feel good, don’t you, princess?”

Mingi gasped and nodded slightly, more tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He went to wipe them away, but Hongjoong stopped him.

“Don’t.” He said, not taking his hand off Mingi’s face. “You look so beautiful right now…”

“R-really?” Mingi asked in a tiny voice, looking hopefully up at Hongjoong. Though Hongjoong was shorter, right now on his knees, it felt like he was towering over him. Mingi kind of liked it.

“Can I kiss you?” Hongjoong asked hungrily. Mingi suspected he already knew the answer, because he was already bringing Mingi’s face closer to his.

“Yes.” Mingi whispered anyway.

After months and months of pining, finally getting to kiss Hongjoong was exactly as nice as Mingi thought it would be. Hongjoong licked into his mouth to immediately take control of the kiss. Mingi just sat back and let himself be kissed. For a second, they were so wrapped up in their own little world, that they seemed to forget Yunho laying helplessly on the floor between them.

He propped himself up on his elbows, watching the two of them go at it. He’s sure he looked stupid, with his shirt half pushed up and just his hard cock pulled out of his underwear. Yunho was still in a bit of a daze, but being ignored was bringing some clarity to his brain. Though… something about being ignored was kind of sexy? He was just sitting there like an idiot with his dumb cock out watching Hongjoong make out with Mingi. 

Yunho let out a whine that was way louder than he intended, causing their kiss to break. He could see a string of spit connecting their lips as they pulled apart and it made him shudder. Mingi just stared slack-jawed at Hongjoong as the other man set his gaze on Yunho. 

“Were you feeling left out?” Hongjoong muttered in a sultry voice. His gaze slowly trailed down Yunho’s body, only stopping once he saw his dick, never once flagging and even leaking more precome. “You’re still so hard… Did you like watching?”

“Hnn, yeah…” Yunho whispered, trying his best not to squirm too much. He was desperate for someone to just touch him again. 

Hongjoong, as if reading Yunho’s mind, ghosted his hand just over Yunho’s cock. His erection twitched at the sight, like it was trying to launch itself into Hongjoong’s grasp. Hongjoong laughed evilly at the thinly veiled desire, and again bypassed Yunho’s dick to shove his hand up Yunho’s shirt.

“How about we finally get you naked?” Hongjoong suggested, already pushing Yunho’s shirt up to reveal his hard nipples. 

Yunho wasted no time pulling his shirt over his head and throwing it across the room. By the time he laid back down on the linoleum, now warm from his body heat, Mingi was pulling off his underwear for him. Which left Yunho completely naked, while Hongjoong and Mingi were still fully dressed.

“Aren’t you guys gonna…?”

“Why don’t we focus on you right now, baby?” Hongjoong finally, _finally_ , wrapped his hand around Yunho’s dick. It’s a miracle Yunho didn’t come instantly just from the sheer anticipation leading up to it.

Yunho gasped as he looked down. The sight of Hongjoong’s small fingers wrapped around his dick, it made it look even bigger somehow. Hongjoong teasingly stroked upwards, then rubbed his palm over the head. Yunho’s hips jerked up violently in response, making Hongjoong shake his head in disappointment.

“Now, now, do we have to hold you down again?” Hongjoong asked disparagingly. 

“I-I’ll be good.” Yunho promised. He was rewarded by Hongjoong resuming his tantalizingly slow stroking. 

“Hyung…” Yunho called out softly. Hongjoong looked up at him. “Will you… will you kiss me too?”

“Oh!” A blush spread across Hongjoong’s cheeks, subtly breaking character for a moment. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have touched your dick before kissing you.”

“Don’t apologize!” Yunho insisted quickly, “I wanted you to touch my dick! I also want you to kiss me! I want everything!”

Hongjoong giggled at his impassioned statement, crawling back closer to Yunho’s face. He rested his hand in the middle of Yunho’s chest as he lowered himself down so they were face to face. Their lips pressed together softly for a moment.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted this…” Yunho whispered once they pulled apart, his warm breath fanning across Hongjoong’s lips.

“I’ve wanted it too, baby.” Hongjoong replied, pressing another short kiss to Yunho’s lips. “Ever since I first saw you all shy and scared in our art class.” Another kiss. “And when you got all flustered when Ten-hyung started teasing you.” 

Yunho didn’t want him to pull away again, so he placed his hand on the back of Hongjoong’s head, keeping him still while he finally deepened the kiss. Hongjoong went with it for a bit, languidly enjoying the kiss, before sneaking his own hand back to grab a handful of Yunho’s hair.

“I thought I was in charge here.” He teased darkly. Yunho gasped as Hongjoong tugged on his hair, obediently removing his hand from Hongjoong’s head.

“Sorry…” Yunho mumbled. His dick twitched, enjoying the sensation of Hongjoong’s manicured nails scratching at his scalp. He sighed into Hongjoong’s open mouth hovering over his.

“You’re into this?” Hongjoong asked, vaguely. For some clarification, he yanked on the handful of blue hair in his hand again. Yunho moaned loudly and nodded frantically in response. Hongjoong hummed, moving his head to the side to breathe on Yunho’s neck. “What about this?” He placed his teeth delicately on the skin of Yunho’s neck, almost tauntingly refusing to put any pressure down before Yunho consented.

Which he did, enthusiastically, “Yes, yes, yes,” He repeated urgently until Hongjoong finally sank his teeth into the side of his neck. “Oh, f-fuck…” Yunho whimpered. He felt completely powerless laying under Hongjoong, and it was so unbelievably hot. This was when he was finally going to die for real. Of course it would have something to do with Hongjoong.

Then to solidify Yunho’s passing, Mingi, obviously getting bored of being ignored, decided to return back to his previous task of trying to deepthroat Yunho. The sudden attack of sensations made Yunho straight up yelp. He was not going to last much longer.

“Mingi…” Yunho panted, groaning as Hongjoong sucked hard on his neck, like he was trying to mark Yunho for life. Which Yunho didn’t exactly mind... “Close.”

Mingi responded by doubling down, taking Yunho further than he ever had before. Yunho couldn’t see him past where Hongjoong was leaning on his chest, but he was sure his best friend was a sight to behold. He imagined Mingi with his mouth stretched impossibly wide, tears still running down his face as he desperately tried to swallow Yunho’s cock deeper into his throat. He worked his way back up and let Yunho’s dick fall out of his mouth and flop back onto his stomach with a wet noise. Mingi grabbed him with one hand, holding it while he just ran his tongue along the side of it.

Yunho let out another strangled moan, with Mingi’s tongue on his dick and Hongjoong’s tongue against his neck, he felt like he was about to explode. And so he did.

“Ah!” Yunho practically growled as he jolted forward, almost knocking Hongjoong clean off his chest. He groaned as he finally came, but was confused when he didn’t feel any jizz land on him. Yunho still couldn’t see past Hongjoong to where Mingi was kneeling at his crotch, but he could feel that Mingi was still holding his pulsating dick as it shot out its last pathetic dribbles of cum.

“Holy shit…” Hongjoong said, looking at Mingi and _still_ blocking Yunho’s view.

“Let me see!” Yunho pouted, placing his hand on Hongjoong’s shoulder but not pushing. His head was a bit dizzy from his orgasm but this was important!

Hongjoong finally moved and what Yunho saw almost made him get hard again. He had come all over Mingi’s face, stripes of jizz across his nose and lips, some dangerously close to his eyes. Mingi seemed to be shocked into silence, his mouth half open as he processed what just happened.

“Oh god, I’m so sorry,” Yunho mumbled, pushing himself up so he could wipe the jizz off Mingi’s cheekbone. He slowly gathered the cum on his thumb, wiping a clean line off Mingi’s skin. Then, in one swift motion, Mingi had Yunho’s jizz covered thumb in his mouth. Yunho couldn’t do much but whimper as Mingi looked him dead in the eyes as he sucked all the cum off his thumb, then made a show of licking off the jizz that was already covering his lips. 

“Wow…” Hongjoong said, sitting a bit off to the side. He was right and he should say it.

Probably against Yunho’s better judgement, he kissed Mingi. His face was still a mess of jizz and tears, but Yunho couldn’t help himself if Mingi was gonna go and be all sexy looking like that. Yunho could taste himself on Mingi’s skin and tongue, and it should be so gross but he was only thinking with his dick, still flaccid but twitching with effort to get hard again. He paused the kiss for a moment, to obscenely run his tongue across Mingi’s chin. He collected all the cum there and dove back into the kiss. Mingi moaned into it, graciously accepting the jizz on Yunho’s tongue into his mouth.

“You two are ridiculous.” Hongjoong exclaimed with a groan. He was leaning back against Yunho’s bed frame, pressing a hand down against the tented crotch of his jeans. Yunho was suddenly reminded that he was the only one naked, and he quickly yanked Mingi’s shirt up over his head. He saw Hongjoong shrugging out of his flannel shirt then just sitting back in his t-shirt and jeans.

When he turned back to Mingi, he was wiping the remaining cum off his face using his shirt. He crumpled it up and tossed it to the side as Yunho pulled the strings of his sweatpants until they came untied. He felt bad that Mingi had to wait so long, so Yunho just licked a fat stripe up his palm and shoved his hand right in his pants, grabbing his erection. He jerked Mingi off tight and fast, just how he knew his best friend liked it.

“Yunho-yah~” Mingi groaned loudly, shameless as always. He tilted his head back and Yunho pressed sloppy kisses to the underside of his jaw. 

“Do you want me to…” Yunho started asking, feeling guilty that everything had been all about him. But Mingi interrupted him before he could continue.

“No, just,” Mingi gasped as Yunho rubbed the head of his dick, “Just finish me off. Wanna…” Yunho’s strokes speeding up stopped Mingi from being able to formulate intelligent sentences. He suspected he knew what Mingi was going to say anyway. 

It didn’t take much to make Mingi come, it never really did. He shot his load into his underwear, and Yunho kept stroking him through it. He was pretty well versed in how to give Mingi an orgasm as efficiently as possible. 

“You were so good, princess. You were so sexy.” Yunho whispered into Mingi’s ear hotly as he came down. “I’ve never come that hard before and seeing your face all covered in my jizz like that was so hot.”

“Yeah?” Mingi asked stupidly, the praise making his brain-to-mouth filter even worse than normal. 

“Yeah.” Yunho confirmed, pulling his hand out of Mingi’s pants to place his one arm across Mingi’s chest in some sort of half-hearted hug. “It felt like you belonged to me.”

“I do.” Mingi said quietly, nuzzling his pointy nose against Yunho’s cheek. “Yours, and hyung’s.”

A soft moan from across the room snapped them out of their post-orgasm bubble. Somehow they had ended up in their own little world while Hongjoong was just grinding against the heel of his palm, trying to keep quiet.

“Hyung.” Yunho called, causing Hongjoong to stop his movements abruptly. His face was flushed but he was trying to compose himself.

“That was… that was good.” He said, clearing his throat halfway through. 

“It’s your turn.” Yunho softly replied. He started crawling over to where Hongjoong was. Mingi took a second to pull off his nasty cum soaked pants and underwear before joining him.

“No, no,” Hongjoong was saying, waving his hands, “Y-you guys don’t have to…”

“What? Why would we not?” Mingi asked, genuinely confused. Had Hongjoong not been present for the past few minutes?

“Um, it’s just,” Hongjoong bit his lip hesitantly. “I know you guys already have experience with each other. I don’t want you to feel pressured to do anything with me for the first time right now.”

“That’s stupid, hyung.” Mingi replied bluntly, trying to get his hands on Hongjoong’s overly complicated looking belt.

“Are you sure?” Hongjoong persisted, though he was only half-heartedly trying to stop Mingi from fumbling with his belt. 

“Why wouldn’t we be?” Yunho asked, scoffing. As if it was ever even a possibility, them not wanting to get Hongjoong off. “We’ve literally been waiting for this moment. Like our whole lives at this point.”

“All I’ve ever wanted to do since I first met you was suck your dick, hyung.” Mingi added, he was clearly getting frustrated with the belt situation. “What is this? A chastity belt?! Release your dick!”

Hongjoong laughed at the outburst, most of the anxiety leaving his face. But he still had a little crease between his eyebrows, one last shred of doubt. 

“So I’m not pressuring you into this, right?”

“Hyung,” Mingi let out a small sigh, letting go of Hongjoong’s cursed belt and sitting back on the floor. “At this rate, it feels like _we’re_ the ones pressuring _you_ into this.” 

Yunho frowned at that, “If you don’t want us to, you can just say no. We respect you, Hongjoong-hyung.”

“No! It’s not that!” Hongjoong shook his head. “I do want this. So bad. Too bad, I feel like…” He finished quietly, looking down at his hands.

“We _really_ want this too.” Yunho reiterated. He didn’t really get why Hongjoong was so hesitant, wasn’t it obvious how much they wanted him? 

“Okay, now that we're all clearly consenting,” Mingi clapped his hands, rubbing them together before wiggling his fingers towards Hongjoong’s convoluted belt again. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Hongjoong laughed again, taking mercy on Mingi for once and undoing his belt for him. He playfully pulled it out of the belt loops all at once, brandishing it in front of them. 

“Damn, are you gonna whip us, hyung?” Mingi asked with a giggle.

“Do you… want me to?” Hongjoong countered coyly, winking for good measure. 

Yunho and Mingi exchanged glances briefly before answering. 

“Not really…” Mingi said with a grimace.

“Maybe later?” Yunho said with a shrug at the same time. 

Hongjoong folded the belt on half and lightly brushed it against Yunho’s cheek, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

Yunho’s jaw dropped open in response, not even able to articulate any words to say. How could Hongjoong do this to him? It should be illegal for him to be so blatantly the man of Yunho’s wildest fantasies.

Next to him, Mingi pressed a hand to Yunho’s chest, right over his racing heart. “I think he's dead, hyung!” Mingi said with a snicker, pushing Yunho back a little. 

“You better give him mouth to mouth.” Hongjoong joked, finally removing more of his clothing. He slowly peeled off his skinny jeans, revealing colorful briefs. 

Mingi actually did press a sloppy kiss to Yunho’s mouth, breathing some life back into him. As he came back to reality, he took in his surroundings. He was naked, on his dorm room floor, next to his naked roommate, waiting for their third lover to get naked. Hongjoong was hesitating to take off his shirt, stalling by taking off his socks instead. And while Hongjoong’s toes were chubby and tiny and adorable, Yunho wanted to see some nipples.

“Take it off! Take it off!” Yunho started chanting. Mingi quickly joined, always one for a good chant.

Hongjoong was chuckling shyly at them, toying with the end of his shirt. He lifted it slightly, revealing his belly button. A fatal move. Yunho dramatically fell back against the linoleum.

“Oh god, you killed him again!” Mingi shouted, doing light compressions on Yunho’s chest to revive him.

“Guess you’ll have me all to yourself, Mingi-yah!” Hongjoong cackled, finally whipping off his shirt and tossing it so it landed on Yunho’s face. 

Yunho quickly sat up, fumbling trying to get the shirt off his face. When his eyes were finally exposed he saw Mingi clutching Hongjoong.

“Oh shit! A ghost!” Mingi shouted, pointing at Yunho accusingly. Yunho balled up Hongjoong’s shirt and pegged it at Mingi’s head.

“Hey, you’re gonna wrinkle my shirt…” Hongjoong pouted, grabbing the offending piece of clothing and straightening it out. 

“It’s a t-shirt, hyung.” Mingi said with a light chuckle.

“Don’t even,” Hongjoong shot back, “I know you’ve never even touched an iron in your life.” 

“Wow…” Mingi clutched his chest in offense. “I’ll have you know my mother invented the iron.”

“Oh did she?”

“Guys,” Yunho interrupted, placing a hand on each of their bare thighs. “Aren’t we supposed to be having sex?”

“Oops,” Mingi giggled, looking down as if he just remembered he was sitting naked on his dorm room floor. Hongjoong still had his underwear on, but he could tell he was actually still half-hard, despite all odds. “You’re really that into us?” He teased, pressing a finger into Hongjoong’s side to tickle him.

“Yeah, I think I might be sexually attracted to stupid people.” Hongjoong replied snarkily as he scooted away from Mingi’s evil tickle fingers. 

“Thank god!” Yunho exclaimed, moving in to attack Hongjoong with tickles from the other side. “Finally some expectations I can live up to.” 

“If you two keep tickling me, I _will_ lose my boner.” Hongjoong threatened, waving his finger disapprovingly at the two of them.

“Noooo…” Mingi lamented, laying his head down against Hongjoong’s thigh. He was just inches away from the boner in question, which was already starting to spark an interest in Mingi’s head being so close.

“Now are you two gonna be good boys for your hyung or what?” Hongjoong asked. He was partially joking but just hearing those words come out of his sexy mouth triggered Yunho’s dumb caveman brain back over to the horny setting. 

“Can we take your underwear off?” Yunho asked, touching the colorful waistband shyly. 

“Release the dick!” Mingi called out as he lifted his head off Hongjoong’s thigh. He dug his fingers boldly underneath the waistband of Hongjoong’s underwear in direct contrast to Yunho’s shyness.

“Sorry,” Hongjoong apologized softly, shaking his head. His hesitance made the other two pull their hands away from him. “It’s been a while since anyone has seen my dick. I just feel kind of nervous? It’s stupid.”

“Don’t say that…” Yunho pouted, his eyebrows furrowing with worry. He placed a comforting hand on Hongjoong’s warm chest, feeling his racing heartbeat. “You know, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”

“I do. _God_ I do.” Hongjoong said with a deep sigh. He couldn’t seem to make eye contact with either of them, just staring out in front of him at the floor. “I… My last boyfriend cheated on me, so I’m a little…” He trailed off, clearly not knowing how to finish the thought. 

While Yunho appreciated the vulnerability, he found he also deeply hated seeing Hongjoong upset. He didn’t really know what to do, so he just wrapped the other man up in his arms, burying his face into Hongjoong’s neck. Hugs were good, right?

“Who the fuck would ever cheat on you?!” Mingi was raving next to them, very clearly outraged. “You’re the sexiest, coolest, smartest, cutest, most passionate person I’ve ever met.” He was practically seething as he named off adjectives at rapid fire speeds. “He didn’t deserve you, hyung. What kind of ungrateful asshole would go after anyone else when he already has perfection?”

“Who is he? Does he go to school here? Can we beat him up?” Yunho questioned, one after the other, still nuzzled into Hongjoong’s neck.

“I really don’t want to talk about him right now.” Hongjoong replied, his voice shaky. Yunho’s head shot up and he saw Hongjoong’s lip tremble, but he seemed to be keeping himself composed, as usual. He was so strong and beautiful. Yunho was going to commit a murder for him.

“Besides,” Hongjoong continued, smiling weakly as he finally looked at the two of them. “Meeting you two was a huge reason why I was able to get over him, anyway. So you’ve already done more than enough.”

“Well, I’m just going to worship your dick even harder now.” Mingi grumbled stubbornly. “You will never feel unappreciated ever again, hyung.”

Yunho squeezed his arms around Hongjoong even tighter, shaking him slightly in place with the force of his affection. When he finally let go, Hongjoong seemed a lot happier, rolling his eyes fondly at the other man. Yunho grinned even wider in response.

Suddenly, Hongjoong gasped, throwing his head back in pleasure. Mingi had taken it upon himself to just rub his hand against Hongjoong’s barely hard dick through his underwear. 

“You still want it, right hyung?” Mingi asked, whispering huskily right in Hongjoong’s ear. Yunho knew what it was like to have Mingi in your ear like that, and if that didn’t put Hongjoong back in the mood, he didn’t know what would.

Hongjoong nodded sharply. He finally looped his own fingers into his underwear, lifting himself off the ground a little to pull them past the swell of his ass. When he finally tossed the boxer briefs to the side, his erection was still flagging, but Mingi made it his life mission to put a stop to that.

While Mingi stroked Hongjoong’s cock, Yunho lightly touched Hongjoong’s jaw to coax him into a kiss. It didn’t take long for Hongjoong’s dominant nature to kick in, seizing control of the kiss and licking greedily into Yunho’s mouth. He pulled away for a moment, moaning against Yunho’s parted lips. Yunho glanced down and saw Mingi dribbling spit down on Hongjoong’s dick, trying to make the glide smoother. 

Hongjoong rested his hand around the front of Yunho’s neck, pressing his thumb hard against where he left a giant hickey/bite mark earlier. Yunho’s breath stuttered, half from the sensation of Hongjoong pressing against the sensitive fresh bruise and half from just the idea of Hongjoong cutting off his air supply. He needed to fucking relax with the kink discovery today. Luckily, he could tell Hongjoong was thinking something similar, just from the way he was smoldering at Yunho and gauging his reaction. 

“Yeah?” Hongjoong asked, almost wordlessly. All Yunho could do was whine in response, like the poor dumb puppy he was. 

Mingi leaned down and took the head of Hongjoong’s, now almost fully hard, erection into his mouth. He savored the salty sweaty taste of Hongjoong’s skin, dipping his tongue into the slit of his cock to collect the precome that pooled there. He made a noise of surprise around his mouthful of cock when he saw Yunho’s hand wrap around his own hand that was holding Hongjoong’s dick.

When Mingi looked up, Yunho was leaning down at his level, on the other side of Hongjoong’s legs. He gave Mingi that familiar mischievous smile, his partner in crime. Mingi pulled his mouth off to grin right back, and Yunho swooped in to wrap his own tongue around Hongjoong’s dick.

“O-oh my god.” Hongjoong gasped as the realization dawned on him. He had a hand buried in both of their hair as they smirked at each other while taking turns teasingly licking at his dick. “Please… more…” Hongjoong begged. 

Mingi closed his lips around the side of Hongjoong’s shaft, trying to meet Yunho’s lips in some sort of filthy kiss with Hongjoong’s dick in between. It was honestly the perfect scenario for their whole situation, he can’t believe he didn’t think of it sooner. The two of them tangled their tongues obscenely around the length of Hongjoong’s dick.

Hongjoong tightened his grip on Yunho’s hair, careful not to do the same to Mingi, “Didn’t I say _more_?” He groaned impatiently.

Mingi exchanged a heated glance with Yunho as they silently argued over who got to actually suck Hongjoong’s dick. He begrudgingly seceded, since he already got to suck a dick today and it was Yunho’s turn. 

As Yunho finally sunk his hot mouth down, Mingi stuck his face down further and ran his tongue across Hongjoong’s balls. He took in the pungent scent of pure Hongjoong musk, though it smelled a little too clean, like he showered right before he came here. Which was a bit of a sexy thought… Considering Hongjoong apparently thought he was coming over to hear Yunho and Mingi’s dating announcement. Maybe he had his own suspicions.

Hmm, Hongjoong in the shower… thinking about Yunho and Mingi. Getting all clean in anticipation to meet with them… Mingi should probably focus on the real Hongjoong moaning right in front of his eyes, instead of fantasies about him.

Yunho could only take Hongjoong’s cock so far, he was self-admittedly not the best at giving head. What he lacked in skill, he made up for with enthusiasm. He excitedly bobbed up and down with what he could fit. Mingi teasingly licked around the base, trying to cover where Yunho couldn’t. 

Hongjoong was actually multitasking pretty well, considering he had two tongues on his dick. He managed to sweetly pet Mingi’s hair while tugging a handful of Yunho’s. Mingi was impressed, he was so talented.

“I-I’m not gonna last,” Hongjoong stuttered out, his hips jerking slightly. “I’ve been hard for so long.”

“It’s okay,” Mingi insisted, “Don’t you want to fill Yunho’s mouth with cum anyway?”

“Jesus,” Hongjoong took his hand off Mingi’s head and threw his arm across his face. So he was into that, huh? Mingi loved dirty talk.

“I bet you can’t wait to blow your load right down his throat.” Mingi continued crudely, still placing small teasing nips on Hongjoong’s thigh, right next to where Yunho was choking down his cock. “You ever think about cumming in his tight ass? Making this big dumb baby submit to you while you pump him full of your cum, so everyone knows he’s yours? You know he’d like it too, he’s so desperate to be claimed.”

Inches away from his head, Mingi could see tears forming in the corners of Yunho’s eyes. He was whimpering around Hongjoong’s dick, in perfect harmony with Hongjoong’s unabashed moans. Being talked about like he wasn’t even there… was doing things to Yunho. 

“Holy shit,” Hongjoong let out a shuddering gasp, his hand shooting back down to touch Yunho’s head. “Do you really want me to?”

That was Yunho’s opportunity to pull off. He’d never had someone come in his mouth before. But he was feeling a little reckless and incredibly horny… If there was anyone’s jizz he wanted to swallow, it was Hongjoong’s. Yunho kept his head down, picking up the speed as Hongjoong chased his orgasm.

Yunho let out a muffled moan as Hongjoong hips shot up as soon as his orgasm finally hit. He unconsciously held Yunho’s head down, streams of jizz shooting into Yunho’s awaiting mouth. When he was done, Hongjoong’s whole body fell limp, his hands sliding out of Yunho’s hair. 

Mingi desperately dug his own fingers into Yunho’s abused locks, pulling his head off Hongjoong’s softening cock. He could only look at Mingi with wide-eyed confusion for a moment before Mingi’s lips came crashing on his own. Yunho opened his mouth, letting Mingi lick out the cum pooling inside. He could feel some dribbling out the side of their mouths as they kissed messily, passing Hongjoong’s jizz between them like it was the sweetest thing they’d ever tasted.

Hongjoong felt like his brain had ascended to another planet. First Yunho sucks the life out of him through his cock, now he and Mingi were swapping it between them like a delicious treat. What did he do to deserve this?

The next few minutes passed in a lust filled haze for everyone. Without breaking their kiss, Yunho and Mingi frantically jerked each other off once again. They both fell down against the floor afterwards, exhausted from their second orgasm of the day. As they cuddled, Hongjoong found something to wipe them down with, before flopping down on top of both of them. A big naked man pile.

* * *

“I’m like starving.” Yunho mumbled as his brain slowly came back online. His stomach grumbled loudly, as if reiterating his statement. Hongjoong chuckled against Yunho’s neck after feeling the rumbling of his stomach.

Hongjoong had spread out across the two of them after he cleaned them off with a few tissues from Mingi’s desk. The three of them laid spaced out for a bit on the bare dorm room floor, because for some reason they never thought to get a rug? Hongjoong was going to have to fix that. 

“If you guys want, I can buy you ice cream.” Hongjoong offered, pulling his face out of Yunho’s neck and looking at his two boys. “To make up for me being dumb the past few days.”

“Hey, I think we were _all_ dumb.” Yunho said.

At the same time, Mingi yelled, “Yay ice cream!”

Hongjoong snorted, pushing himself off the boy pile he was in. He grabbed his discarded shirt and pulled it on, then started looking around for his underwear.

“Hey,” Hongjoong called when he put on his briefs and the other two were still laying incapacitated on the floor. He lightly kicked Yunho, pushing him so he bumped into Mingi. “Get up or I’ll make you pay for yourselves.”

“You wouldn’t do that to your sweet baby dongsaengs.” Mingi pouted exaggeratedly, finally sitting up lazily and looking around for his own clothes.

“Ugh, we're gonna have to clean the floor or something.” Yunho cried out as he noticed the sweat stains left in his spot after he got up. His hair was a complete mess from being pulled in all directions.

“We’ll deal with that later.” Mingi shrugged. “I want ice cream.”

“You two need to brush your teeth or something.” Hongjoong said with a grimace as he remembered the amount of cum they swallowed between the two of them. 

“What, you’re not into jizz breath?” Mingi asked, looking like he was about to come breathe in Hongjoong’s face.

“I _will_ break up with you immediately.” Hongjoong warned, trying to run away from the taller man in the tiny dorm room they were in. “Go brush your fucking teeth!” He shoved Mingi away aggressively, then ran to push Yunho towards the bathroom too.

While the two of them cleaned up, Hongjoong had to go on a wild search to find his discarded clothing. How did his underwear end up on top of Mingi’s desk?

“Noooo…” Hongjoong whined, holding up the flannel shirt he had on when he came in. “There’s jizz on my flannel.” 

Mingi laughed loudly, now smelling minty fresh as he moved in closer to check out the stain. “How did that even happen?” 

“It was probably your fault,” Hongjoong replied, shoving Mingi away and balling up the flannel to throw at him. “I swear you shot like 50 meters. And on your second orgasm!”

“What can I say?” Mingi smirked, dodging the shirt flying at him. “It’s a gift.”

“Hongjoong-hyung, do you want to wear one of my hoodies?” Yunho asked, already opening his small closet to find one. He definitely needed one for himself, to cover up his irredeemable hair.

Hongjoong blushes, “Oh, um it’s fine.” He waved Yunho off as the taller man presented him with a big black hoodie. “I can just go without it.”

“No, come on. It’s too cold to just wear a t-shirt.” Yunho insisted, grabbing the ends of the hoodie as if he was going to put it on Hongjoong himself if he didn’t agree soon. “Please? I want you to.” 

“Jeez, an hour into this relationship and you’re already using your puppy dog eyes against me.” Hongjoong snatched the hoodie out of Yunho’s hands and pulled it over his head, using the hood to try desperately to hide his growing blush.

When he finally poked his head out, Yunho was grinning like an idiot in front of him. He reached a hand out to knock the hood down and fix Hongjoong’s white hair softly.

“If you two are done being _gay_!” Mingi shouted, separating the two. “I want some motherfucking ice cream!”

“Aww, Mingi-yah! No need to be jealous!” Hongjoong cooed, wrapping his arms tightly around Mingi’s waist. 

Yunho stealthily pulled on another black hoodie. Hongjoong shook his head fondly when he saw their matching couple looks. He grabbed the strings of Yunho’s hoodie flirtily, like he was going to pull him in for a kiss, but instead he tugged so the hood tightened around Yunho’s face.

“So you two are just gonna wear matching hoodies and you weren’t gonna tell me.” Mingi grumbled, unzipping the track jacket he’d put on and rummaging through his closet. He pulled out his own black hoodie, shoving it on quickly.

Hongjoong bit his lip shyly as the two of them grinned widely at him. The three of them couldn’t seem to stop from giggling, feeling a little giddy that they somehow miraculously managed to find the best possible solution to their problems. It was unprecedented.

Though, Hongjoong knew things wouldn’t necessarily come easy from now on. All relationships were hard work and surely one with three people would be even more, but he just felt so… excited.

It was about a ten minute walk to get to the little ice cream shop on their campus. Hongjoong started feeling a little nervous, was he supposed to act different now? Now that they were all… boyfriends… was he supposed to hold both their hands? He didn’t really want to be in the middle of them holding both their hands like he was their child. 

But his worries disappeared almost instantly because he found he didn’t need to change the way he acted around them. That was what was so nice about their relationship, he was already comfortable with them. It was so easy to slip into this boyfriend role, it mostly just meant he was actually allowed to act on things he used to have to hold back. Like slapping Mingi’s flat ass when he started walking too fast ahead of them because he was so excited to get ice cream. 

Hongjoong’s nerves made a comeback when they entered the stop and he immediately spotted Ten. His friend was standing in line with some really tall guy Hongjoong had never seen before. 

“Oh, Hongjoong-ah!” Ten wasted no time in calling out when he saw his friend. He had a devilish smirk on his face as he waved him over.

Hongjoong shot an apologetic look at Yunho and Mingi before leading the two over to Ten. By the time they reached him, his mysterious tall partner had left, walking up to the counter to order. 

“I see you’re finally with these two again…” Ten observed loudly, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly. “Did something _happen_?” 

“Ah…” Hongjoong sighed, looking down at his shoes in embarrassment. He never really liked talking about personal things, even with his close friends. He rarely told anyone besides Seonghwa anything. “I guess you could say that.”

“Well…” Ten said expectantly, slapping Hongjoong’s arm lightly. “Tell me the big news! Which one did you pick?” Then he seemed to look a bit closer at the two tall boys. “Wait, don’t tell me. I think I can guess. Jesus, look at the size of that thing…”

Yunho slapped his hand down against his neck before Ten could poke the giant hickey there. Underneath his hood, he could just barely see his ears turn red in record time and Hongjoong couldn’t help but smirk. He had done that.

“So… Yunho-yah~” Ten was saying, and Hongjoong knew he had to intervene. 

“Ahh no, actually… both?” Hongjoong quickly interrupted, turning to look at Yunho and Mingi. The two of them proudly held onto each other, presenting themselves to Ten with matching wide grins.

“Wow… I didn’t know you had it in you, buddy.” Ten nodded approvingly, looking reluctantly impressed. “Taeyong predicted it!”

Hongjoong shook his head with an embarrassed sigh. Behind him, Yunho and Mingi looked curious. 

“Predicted what?” Mingi asked.

“Taeyong-hyung is kind of the reason I thought you guys were dating in the first place.” Hongjoong explained before Ten could say anything incriminating. “He insisted that he still thought you guys liked me even though he thought you liked each other too, but I just didn’t believe that.”

“That’s why he was always asking us weird shit at rehearsal.” Mingi nodded in realization. 

“I think a couple people owe him money now.” Ten joked.

“Yah!” Hongjoong exclaimed, shoving Ten a bit too hard. “You guys didn’t actually make bets, did you?”

Ten scoffed, “No, thank god, since apparently I would have lost.”

“Who were you betting on?” Mingi asked eagerly, his competitive side flaring up.

“Yunho—” Before Ten could elaborate, he was interrupted by Yunho’s victory cry.

“In your face, bro!” Yunho gloated, pointing a finger at Mingi.

“You didn’t even let him finish!” Mingi insisted, gesturing for Ten to continue. Hongjoong rolled his eyes, but he was kind of amused by the whole exchange. He knew Ten was just spouting a bunch of bullshit as usual.

“But then when I finally met Mingi and saw how cute he was… I probably would have bet him.” Ten finished mischievously as Yunho’s face fell.

“Exactly!” Mingi boasted.

“You don’t think I’m cute, hyung?” Yunho pouted, turning his charms on full blast directed at Ten.

“Half the time I saw you in art class you were too dickmatized to even formulate words! The other half you were terrified of me.” Ten explained harshly, impervious to Yunho’s puppy dog eyes.

“Dickmatized?” Yunho asked Hongjoong quietly. The shorter man just shook his head, it was usually best not to ask Ten to explain himself. 

Ten’s mystery man finally returned, holding two ice cream cups in his huge hands. He seemed to have heard the tail end of Ten’s little rant, asking innocently, “Don’t you like it when people are terrified of you, hyung?”

“Oh shit, Yukhei!” Mingi called out in recognition.

“Eyy!” Yukhei said back, about to hold his hand out for a high five before realizing both were occupied by ice cream. “Mingi, Yunho! What’s up!”

“Oh my god, they know each other.” Ten breathed out, looking between the three giants in shock.

“Of course we know each other.” Yunho said, as if it was obvious. 

“Yo, I haven’t seen you guys in forever!” Yukhei said, bouncing on his toes like an excited puppy. “You finally bag Hongjoong-hyung?”

“Um—” Hongjoong started, a little offended.

“Babe, why don’t you guys find a table for all of us.” Ten suggested, grabbing Hongjoong’s arm possessively. “I want to talk to Hongjoongie.”

“No prob!” Yukhei nodded with a dopey smile, already headed towards the tables with Mingi close behind him.

“Do you mind?” Yunho asked Hongjoong softly. 

“Of course I don’t mind.” Hongjoong chuckled, pushing Yunho towards the other two. “Go hang out with your friends. I’ll order the ice cream.”

“Okay!” Yunho smiled widely. “Uh, Mingi likes mint chocolate and I want cookies and cream.”

“Got it.” Hongjoong gave him a thumbs up, smiling fondly as he went to join the other two.

“Okay, tell me more about what happened.” Ten said literally as soon as Yunho was a few feet away. “That hickey?”

“No.” Hongjoong deflected, turning the scrutinizing eye back on his friend. “Why don’t you tell me about you and this Yukhei dude?”

Ten straightened his spine with pride. “You're not the only one who can get a tall himbo boyfriend.”

“Him-himbo?” Hongjoong asked, confused by the unfamiliar English phrases Ten was busting out today.

“I’ve been kind of talking to him for a while.” Ten barreled on, refusing to explain. “I don’t know, I thought I’d never want to settle down, but he’s just really… sweet.”

“I get it.” Hongjoong nodded, looking as the three boys laughed loudly together. He sighed, deciding he would allow Ten a little bit of information, as a treat. “They invited me to their dorm room today and they just told me that they both liked me. And I was like well I like you both too, so… Yeah and now we’re all kind of dating, I guess.”

“Wow, what a lovely story.” Ten replied sarcastically. “Couldn’t you give me the X-rated version?”

Hongjoong rolled his eyes as he finally made his way up to the counter to order. Happy to have an excuse not to continue the line of questioning. 

“Hey…” Ten said quietly as they waited off to the side for Hongjoong’s orders to be made. “You’re happy, right?”

It was rare that anyone got to see this side of Ten. He loved to fuck around and antagonize people, but at the end of the day he was one of the most loyal and caring people Hongjoong had ever met. He knew Ten would always be brutally honest with him and he always had his best interest in heart. 

“Yeah, I think this is going to be something really good, actually.” Hongjoong answered, giving back the vulnerability Ten had given him.

“Good. Because you know Seonghwa and I will dismember anyone who tries to hurt you again.” Ten said seriously. Hongjoong knew he meant it. “Taeyong read a Twitter thread on how to cover up a murder.”

“Ew,” Hongjoong grimaced, “Can we not talk about my ex ever again?”

“At least you’re not in a class with him.” Ten grumbled, “I have to stop myself from going ballistic every time I see his cheating ass.”

Thankfully, that line of conversation was ended when the person behind the counter placed Hongjoong’s order at the pickup counter. Then he was struggling to carry three cups to the table because Ten refused to help him. Apparently the cold was bad for his supple hands. 

“Wait so, you guys are dating?” Mingi asked later, pointing to Ten and Yukhei with his little spoon. Ten had his legs stretched across Yukhei’s lap, practically sitting on him with a smug expression on his face. Yukhei nodded enthusiastically. Mingi looked a bit bemused. “Bro, I thought you were straight.”

“Oh, me too bro.” Yukhei laughed, “But have you seen this dude?” He gestured towards Ten, who grew even more smug. “Look at him!”

“Aww, baby,” Ten cooed, performatively running a delicate hand down Yukhei’s cheek. Yukhei turned his doe eyes on Ten, staring adoringly.

Hongjoong rolled his eyes, all too used to his friend’s dramatics. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Mingi stealing a scoop of Yunho’s ice cream. Instead of saying anything, Yunho just stole one right back out of Mingi’s cup. Mingi gasped dramatically, and grabbed Yunho’s wrist to lead the spoon back into his own mouth.

Hongjoong couldn’t help but feel… a bit left out, watching the two of them giggle as they played around together. They had this already established intimacy with each other that Hongjoong wasn’t a part of. It made him close off a bit, slowly eating small chunks of his rainbow sherbet in silence.

“Hey,” Mingi nudged Hongjoong with his elbow, whispering, “Why are you so quiet?” 

Hongjoong looked around and Yunho was animatedly telling a story to Yukhei and Ten. Mingi was checking in on him without making a scene, which was nice and unusual for him.

Hongjoong coughed awkwardly, “Nothing… just you guys seem like you’re having fun together…” He trailed off, already regretting saying anything.

Mingi was deeply frowning and Hongjoong could tell he was already thinking too hard about the situation. But before he could say anything, Mingi stood up, pulling his chair away from the round table. Yunho stopped his story abruptly to look at whatever Mingi was doing.

“Wha—” Hongjoong was cut short when Mingi grabbed the back of his chair and moved him to where Mingi once was. Then Mingi placed his own chair back where Hongjoong’s used to be and sat back down.

“Okay…” Hongjoong said, confused and embarrassed by the spectacle that was much more true to Mingi’s nature. Next to him, Yunho stuck his spoon into Hongjoong’s sherbet. “Yah!” Hongjoong exclaimed as Yunho made direct eye contact while eating the sherbet off his spoon. On his other side, Mingi was doing the same thing.

“Okay.” Hongjoong said again, shaking his head fondly as he realized what was going on. They were cute. He wondered if they planned the whole thing while Hongjoong was all spaced out.

“We’re not just having fun together, okay?” Mingi said firmly, going back for another scoop from Hongjoong’s cup. “We’re having fun with you. We always wanted to be _with you_. If we were enough for each other, we wouldn’t have been chasing after you for months.”

“I guess…” Hongjoong half-heartedly agreed.

“No seriously,” Yunho insisted, throwing all his previous inhibitions out the window. “Mingi and I weren’t even that close until we both started talking about our crushes on you. We literally bonded over it. I’d argue you’re the reason we’re friends.”

Hongjoong scoffed in disbelief. Obviously the two boys were pretty similar and they were roommates, so they were bound to find something to bond over eventually. 

“For real though!” Yukhei suddenly spoke up. “They’ve been straight up obsessed with you for so long. Like everyone knows about it. I’m surprised you didn’t.”

“Obsessed is a strong word…” Mingi quickly said sheepishly in his own defense.

“Trust me, I tried to tell him, guys.” Ten shook his head disappointedly. “Hongjoong, how many times did I tell you that Yunho was in love with you?”

Hongjoong declined to answer the question, so Ten just continued lamenting.

“He’s just an idiot. That’s why I took it upon myself to do what had to be done.”

“What do you mean?” Hongjoong asked, worrying furrowing his brow. He looked at Mingi, who looked incredibly guilty. “What does he mean?”

“I just may… have _hinted_ to Mingi that perhaps... you liked both of them!” Ten explained hastily, as if saying it faster would lessen the blow.

“Ten!” Hongjoong yelled, ready to stand up in his seat, now he was the one causing a scene. He couldn’t stand when his nosy ass friends insisted on inserting themselves into his life decisions.

“Excuse me! I’m still your hyung!” Ten scolded, crossing his arms stubbornly. “And besides, it all worked out in the end! Before this you weren’t even talking. Don’t act like you would have handled this well without my meddling.”

“It doesn’t matter! It’s my life! I’m allowed to make bad decisions if I want to!” Hongjoong argued, slumping down in his seat. He felt like he was having this conversation way too often lately. Between Ten and Taeyong trying to push him towards Yunho and Mingi, and Seonghwa trying to push him away from them.

“Hyung, I’m sorry…” Mingi apologized sincerely. “But without Ten-hyung, there’s really no way we would have confessed to you.”

Hongjoong continued sulking. He knew they were probably right, but he was still annoyed. Everyone needed to stop telling him what to do and how to feel!

“Honestly, we were convinced you hated us because you realized we liked you and you thought we were creeps.” Yunho said with an embarrassed chuckle. “We were kind of going to give up on you. Because… we thought it was what you wanted.”

“Why would you ever think that?” Hongjoong pouted. He didn’t like this new possibility being presented to him. Because deep down he knew if Mingi and Yunho had cut him off, he would have just let them, even at his own expense. He would have never spoken to them again, because he was just that stubborn.

“I don’t know, you were all mad at the party and Seonghwa-hyung just… _hates_ us…” Yunho tried to explain.

God… _Seonghwa_ … What was Hongjoong even going to say to him? He’d spent the past few weeks crying on Seonghwa’s shoulder over the fact that he thought Yunho and Mingi were a couple. It was pretty embarrassing now, in hindsight. 

“Why _does_ Seonghwa-hyung hate us anyway?” Mingi wondered. 

Ten laughed knowingly, “Have you even told him yet?” He asked Hongjoong. “He’s gonna be _pissed_!”

“ _Don’t_ remind me…” Hongjoong groaned, how was he even supposed to tell Seonghwa he was suddenly now dating both Mingi and Yunho after all that? “Seonghwa has listened to me complain about you two _a lot_ . He doesn’t _hate_ you… well not _really_ anyway.” Hongjoong sighed. “He’s helped me through a lot of bad break ups and he’s been pretty adamant that me liking two guys, who are best friends no less, was just going to end in heartbreak. _I’m_ the one he should hate, not you guys.” 

“He seems like a good friend.” Yunho responded kindly.

“I think it would be nice to be his friend some day!” Mingi said bitterly. “Maybe I would enjoy having someone hate others on my behalf!”

“I hate people for you, babe!” Yunho stretched his arm out behind Hongjoong so he could rest his hand on Mingi’s back. “Remember that dude who bumped into you and refused to apologize? I still glare at him whenever I see him.”

“Aww, Yunho-yah~!” Mingi cooed, reaching to touch Yunho’s shoulder. Hongjoong rolled his eyes fondly as the two made kissy faces at each other. 

“Seonghwa is just going to have to get over it.” Hongjoong said with finality. “He can’t stay mad at you two forever.”

“Hyung!” Yunho cried out, moving his hand from Mingi’s back to Hongjoong’s shoulder. He locked eyes with Mingi, then in an instant the two had wrapped Hongjoong in a big hug between them. 

Hongjoong laughed loudly in shock, pretending to fight them off but secretly reveling in the affection. He wasn’t usually a very touchy-feely person, but he knew that’s how Yunho and Mingi liked to express their love. It was really nice…. feeling loved, and wanted, and appreciated. 

After he had to end his last long-term relationship because the guy was a manipulative cheater, Hongjoong fell into a bit of a rut. He stopped being able to do the thing he loved most, making music. But meeting Yunho and Mingi brought this brand new light to his life that was exactly what he needed at the time. They were these two precious puppy dongsaengs for Hongjoong to take care of. He got to help Yunho with art and Mingi with music, reinvigorating his passion for both those things. 

It had hurt Hongjoong when Taeyong suggested that he thought Yunho and Mingi were dating each other. He felt like a fool for thinking maybe one of them might possibly like him. Once again, he was left feeling incredibly unwanted, a lot like when he was cheated on. 

But now that he knew all that wasn’t true, he could barely remember those sad times. It was so much easier to focus on his happy present and the even happier future on the horizon. How could Seonghwa possibly still hate them when they’ve been such an overwhelmingly positive influence on his life? Why was he always so focused on the negatives?

“Hey…” Yunho said quietly as he and Mingi slowly released Hongjoong from their grasp. Hongjoong had been happy at first, but got noticeably lost in his thoughts. “You okay?” 

“Yeah, I’m just thinking,” Hongjoong explained, “I don’t know what I’m gonna do about Seonghwa.”

“Well, whatever you need, we're here for you.” Yunho replied, smiling sweetly. “We can figure it out together. You don’t have to do it alone.”

Something about his words made a lump form in Hongjoong’s throat. He felt like an idiot as tears suddenly formed in his eyes. This was the second time he’d teared up simply because Yunho said something nice to him. It was silly.

At least this time he wasn’t going to run away, like he had in their dorm room that night.

“S-shut up.” Hongjoong said, lightly shoving a laughing Yunho. He made sure not to push enough to actually make Yunho move his arm from around Hongjoong’s shoulders. “Thank you.” He said quietly, then turned to Mingi to say the same thing to him too.

“Wow, you seeing this gay shit, Yukhei?” Ten asked loudly, pretending to throw up.

“Thank god I’m not gay!” Yukhei happily played along, as if he didn’t have his hand wrapped firmly around Ten’s thigh. 

“Hyung, you’re just jealous because I have two boyfriends and you only have one.” Hongjoong shot back with a smirk.

Ten gasped, “I could get another boyfriend if I wanted to, bitch!” 

Hongjoong snickered, it was always fun when he said something that actually got under Ten’s skin. He tuned out as his friend started ranting about all the people who were interested in him. Instead, he focused on the gleeful expressions on Yunho and Mingi’s faces as Ten got legitimately worked up.

He was just really excited for whatever his future held.

* * *

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Seonghwa-yah!” Hongjoong shouted happily as he approached the couple, holding his arms out to invite his best friend in for a hug. “What a surprise!”

Seonghwa did not accept the hug, he was too busy glaring menacingly at Yunho and Mingi, who were waving awkwardly behind Hongjoong’s back. Yunho wasn’t exactly happy to be crashing Seonghwa’s date, but he knew this was important to Hongjoong. 

“Did you do this?” Seonghwa turned and pointed an accusing finger at his boyfriend. Yeosang immediately threw his hands up in surrender. 

“What the fuck? No!” He shook his head. “I didn’t even tell anyone we were going out tonight.”

“So, what?” Seonghwa huffed, crossing his arms petulantly. “Hongjoong and his two idiots just happen to end up at the same minigolf place as us at the same exact time?”

Yunho frowned. This was exactly why he didn’t want to deal with the whole Seonghwa thing. He just had this impenetrable grudge against him and Mingi. And Yunho even kind of understood why, but it didn’t stop his feelings from being hurt. He was sensitive! 

Mingi placed a steady comforting hand on Yunho’s lower back. When their eyes met, Mingi smiled slightly in reassurance. He was much stronger than Yunho, and he always seemed to know when the other boy needed support.

“It’s actually _your_ fault, Seonghwa-yah.” Hongjoong said, jabbing his finger into Seonghwa’s chest. “You told me about this date weeks ago because you were so excited about it.”

“Aw, babe!” Yeosang cooed, going in to kiss Seonghwa on the cheek, but Seonghwa swerved out of the way at the last second.

“We’re not staying!” Seonghwa announced, stepping away from the rest of them and holding his hand out expectantly towards Yeosang.

For a moment, Yeosang looked genuinely torn. Yunho knew he didn’t normally care enough about Yunho and Mingi’s problems to warrant upsetting his boyfriend. But Yeosang had been voicing some complaints lately about Seonghwa not wanting him to hang out with his friends. Clearly this… whole situation had gone on long enough. 

“I think we should stay.” Yeosang moved so he was standing formidably next to the other three. Yunho grinned at his friend, patting his back gratefully for his support. 

“I don’t appreciate being _forced_ into this.” Seonghwa grumbled, still standing separate from the rest of the group. He was visibly guarded, as if his crossed arms were an emotional shield.

“I _tried_ to get you to agree to this on your own terms, Seonghwa-yah!” Hongjoong scoffed, clearly exasperated. “But it’s been like, a month and you still hate my boyfriends! It’s unnecessary!”

“It hasn’t been a _month_ …” Seonghwa shook his head in disbelief. 

“Yes, it literally has.” Hongjoong was ranting passionately. Yunho watched in awe, he loved seeing Hongjoong all fired up. “We’ve been dating for a _full month_ and you’re still on your whole crusade about how they’re bad for me. I’m the happiest I’ve _ever_ been! I’d be even _happier_ if I had my best friend supporting me.”

“I just don’t want you to get hurt again.” Seonghwa said quietly, looking down at his shoes to avoid eye contact. “I wish I could just stop you from ever making a mistake so I don’t have to see you like that again.”

That was where Yunho really understood where Seonghwa was coming from. They’d heard the stories about Hongjoong’s ex, not only from Hongjoong himself but from Ten and Taeyong as well. Just the thought of Hongjoong not even wanting to make music because some guy made him feel worthless made Yunho’s blood boil. But he also knew better than to try to stop Hongjoong from doing something once his mind was set on it.

“I _won’t_ get hurt though.” Hongjoong replied, lowering his voice too as he stepped closer to his friend. “Even if I do, it’s okay. You can’t just force me not to do things because there’s a chance I might get hurt. Don’t you think I deserve to experience life?”

“Of course you do!” Seonghwa finally looked up, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears. “I just don’t want you to make _stupid_ decisions all the time!”

“You may think it’s stupid, but I think Mingi and Yunho are the best thing to ever happen to me.” Hongjoong replied, stepping backwards towards the two of them and grabbing both of their hands. “Maybe if you actually spent some time with them, you’d understand that.”

Seonghwa took a deep breath, sighing it out loudly. “Fine.” He reluctantly settled.

Yunho and Mingi shouted out in joy, pulling Hongjoong in for a big group hug. The three of them started jumping and spinning in a circle together. Yeosang quickly rushed back to his boyfriend’s side, wrapping an arm around his shoulders comfortingly. 

“You know it’s for the best, right?” He said quietly, wiping the tears off Seonghwa’s face. 

“I do…” Seonghwa nodded, blinking away the remaining tears in his eyes. “Sometimes it just feels like I’m the only one looking out for him, like he can’t even take care of himself.”

“I know, babe.” Yeosang whispered. This was not the first time he’d heard Seonghwa say that about Hongjoong and it probably wouldn’t be the last. But that caring nature was a huge reason why Yeosang liked him. He delicately wiped Seonghwa’s face again, holding his face in his hands adroingly. “Come on, you love minigolf. Let’s get them to pay for us.”

Seonghwa grinned, laughing slightly at Yeosang’s mischievous wink. 

“I’m not paying for this!” He called out to the trio, who were still in the middle of their celebration. They all fell into an abrupt silence.

“That’s fine!” Yunho was the first to speak up, answering sincerely, “I’ll pay for you and Mingi can pay for Yeosang. As an apology for crashing your date.”

Mingi looked like he was about to protest but Yunho and Hongjoong both gave him a look that made him shut up instantly. He pulled out his wallet sadly as the group approached the front desk. 

Yunho was quick to claim blue as his golf ball color, holding it up to compare to his freshly re-dyed hair. Mingi copied him, holding a bright red ball up to his very faded hair. Hongjoong giggled, picking a white ball for himself. 

“I’ll keep score!” Mingi offered loudly, grabbing one of the small score sheets and short pencils at the front desk. 

“No you won’t!” Yeosang protested, snatching the scorekeeping supplies right out of Mingi’s unsuspecting hands. “I know you too well, you dirty cheater.”

Mingi dramatically gasped in offense as Yeosang handed the paper and pencil to Yunho instead. 

“Why him?!” Mingi exclaimed.

“He’s a good boy.” Yeosang replied.

Yunho felt his ears heat up as he shyly accepted the compliment. Hongjoong was snickering at his side, reaching up to tug on his red ear.

“I can confirm.” Hongjoong nodded approvingly.

Seonghwa groaned as he realized the implication of Hongjoong’s words. Next to him, Yeosang just gave him a confused look. Seonghwa shook his head, not wanting to elaborate as the other three giggled loudly together.

“Can we please just golf?” Seonghwa asked, already tired of their shit.

The five of them played a very long game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to figure out the order they were going to go in. Yunho found himself up first, with Mingi right behind him, then Seonghwa, Yeosang, and Hongjoong at the very end. 

They got about halfway through the course before Mingi noticed Hongjoong was being very grumpy about being in last place. He nudged Yunho when Seonghwa went to set up his shot. 

“What?” Yunho asked. Mingi didn’t reply, just gesturing for Yunho to follow him as he ran off towards where their balls ended up. He looked around suspiciously, making sure the other three couldn’t see them past the walls of the course.

“What?” Yunho asked again.

Mingi shushed him and the two waited in silence as Seonghwa and Yeosang’s orange and pink balls came into view. Once Hongjoong’s white ball came barreling towards them, Mingi quickly grabbed it and ran it over to the hole. 

“Whoa! Hongjoong-hyung!” Mingi shouted loudly, “You got a hole in one!”

Yunho caught on pretty quickly, joining in on Mingi’s cheers as Hongjoong rushed over to them to see for himself. 

“In your face, bitch!” Hongjoong shouted victoriously at Seonghwa, who was easily in the lead. 

“Okay, so you got lucky!” Seonghwa shot back, looking shocked and a little suspicious.

As they moved on through the course, Yunho and Mingi became less interested in playing well themselves and much more invested in helping Hongjoong win. Watching the smile growing on the shorter man’s face as he magically started scoring well was priceless. 

“Did you put a magnet in your ball or something?” Seonghwa asked huffily as Hongjoong finally knocked him out of first place. He picked up Hongjoong’s ball and started inspecting it closely. 

“I didn’t do anything!” Hongjoong shouted defensively, snatching his ball from Seonghwa’s hand. “Stop being a sore loser!”

“I am _not—_ ” Seonghwa cut himself off as Hongjoong started walking away from him mid-sentence. 

“You two are up to something, aren’t you?” Yeosang asked, eyeing Yunho and Mingi suspiciously. They shared a glance, trying their best to look innocent.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Mingi scoffed, “How dare you accuse me of that! I’ve never done anything wrong in my entire life, ever.”

“Exactly.” Yunho added, pulling Mingi in close, “We’re good boys.”

Yeosang snorted with laughter at the two of them. Yunho knew he didn’t actually care, he just wanted to have a good time.

“Yunho-yah!” Hongjoong called from the next hole, “Come on!”

Yunho quickly made his way over, haphazardly throwing his blue golf ball down and hitting it with full strength. He chased after it immediately, so he could scope out the rest of the hole. Soon enough, Mingi’s red ball came flying towards him, almost exactly where Yunho’s ended up.

But then, an unprecedented development. After Seonghwa hit his shot, he didn’t wait for Yeosang and Hongjoong to finish their turns, instead following Yunho and Mingi to the end of the course. He stared at them with his arms crossed, raising an eyebrow sternly, as if daring them to make a move.

Yunho looked desperately at Mingi for answers, but his partner in crime looked just as panicked. What were they supposed to do now? The game was almost over, but the way Hongjoong was playing before, he could probably end up in last place again with just one hole!

Soon enough, Yeosang’s pink golf ball came to join theirs on the other side. He was at least nice enough to wait for Hongjoong to take his turn. 

When Hongjoong’s anticipated white ball came barreling into view, Yunho had to act fast. He could see it was coming towards where he was standing at the edge of the course, so he pretended to trip, accidentally kicking the ball way further than it was going to go originally.

“You just kicked it!” Seonghwa shouted, pointing furiously at Yunho. The accused man was on his hands and knees after having thrown himself on the ground, so Mingi rushed to his side.

“How could you say that, Seonghwa-hyung?” Mingi shook his head, helping Yunho stand up again.

“I literally saw him kick the ball!” Seonghwa scoffed, looking around for anyone to take his side.

Hongjoong came jogging up to join them, grinning when he noticed his golf ball ended up way closer to the hole than everyone else’s. Then he shoved Seonghwa in defense of his boyfriend. 

“Yunho would never do that.” Hongjoong insisted, walking over to see if Yunho was hurt from “falling” a little off the edge of the minigolf course. “Right, baby?”

“I swear, it didn’t even touch me.” Yunho insisted, turning his puppy dog eyes on maximum level. “It just bounced off the wall!”

Seonghwa was fuming, “Yeosang-ah?” He asked.

“Ah,” Yeosang sighed, “It could have hit the wall, I didn’t really see.”

“I can’t believe this.” Seonghwa muttered, shaking his head in disappointment. 

“It’s okay to lose sometimes, Seonghwa-hyung.” Mingi said.

Seonghwa looked like he was going to beat Mingi with his tiny golf club. Yeosang quickly rushed to his boyfriend’s side, trying to hold back his chuckles as he rubbed soothing circles on his back.

“I’ve played minigolf with Hongjoong a thousand times, I _know_ he sucks!” 

Yunho could hear Seonghwa ranting to Yeosang as Hongjoong and Mingi excitedly went to check out where Hongjoong’s ball had ended up. He felt his face flush, he hadn’t realized it would be so obvious that they were cheating. But no matter what, seeing Hongjoong bouncing next to Mingi as he pointed at his golf ball a couple centimeters away from the hole was worth all the trouble.

By the time they finished, Hongjoong’s score was ridiculously better than everyone else’s. Even Seonghwa just gave up towards the end, though he still ended up in second place.

“I finally beat you in minigolf!” Hongjoong gloated, waving the filled out scorecard in Seonghwa’s face.

“Did you?” Seonghwa asked, he was starting to look a little less annoyed and more amused by the situation. “Or did your two idiots rig it for you?”

“Seonghwa-yah…” Hongjoong pouted, disappointed that they were still right where they started. 

Yunho frowned too, maybe he should have worked harder to make Seonghwa like them. He looked over at Mingi, who seemed a little disappointed too. At least they got to make Hongjoong bouncy for a little bit, that was the ultimate adorable sign of his happiness. 

“I mean, you’re an idiot too, so. I can see why you’re perfect for each other.” Seonghwa finished softly, looking off to the side and not at Hongjoong at all.

“Aw, Seonghwa-yah!” Hongjoong cried, instantly wrapping his arms around his best friend. Then a beat passed, “Wait—”

Before Hongjoong could continue, Yunho and Mingi wrapped their impossibly long arms around the two of them, joining their hug. This was cause for celebration! They finally melted Seonghwa’s icy heart! 

“Seonghwa-hyung finally loves us!” Mingi yelled, a little too loud for a public place. 

“I did _not_ say that.” Seonghwa protested, trying to wiggle free from the three people holding onto him. 

“Our relationship is Seonghwa approved!” Yunho continued cheering.

“Yeosang-ah!” Seonghwa called out for help. Yeosang just threw his arms around the group as well, just glad that his friends and boyfriend could finally get along.

Once Yunho and Mingi decided to release everyone from the hug, the smiles were contagious amongst the group. Even Seonghwa had a small grin on his face. Yunho prided himself in making people like him, so this was definitely a win.

“Thank you.” Hongjoong said sincerely, taking Seonghwa’s hand in his. “I promise you won’t regret this.”

Seonghwa rolled his eyes, “Yeah well, you can’t get mad if I say I told you so.” But despite his harsh words, he was squeezing Hongjoong’s hand back tightly.

“You won’t have to.” Mingi insisted firmly, putting his arm around Hongjoong’s shoulders. “If you only knew how much we cherish Hongjoong-hyung.”

“Mingi-yah…” Hongjoong whined, bashfully trying to push his boyfriend away. He still had no idea how to respond to their affection sometimes. 

“Hongjoongie-hyung is a precious treasure.” Yunho cooed, obnoxiously squishing Hongjoong’s cheeks. The shorter man tried to bite Yunho’s fingers in retaliation. 

“I have to admit,” Seonghwa said, crossing his arms. “You two put more effort into making Hongjoong happy today than that last douchebag did the entire time they were dating.”

Yunho and Mingi smiled, enjoying the compliment, especially coming from Seonghwa. They honestly loved nothing more than making Hongjoong happy. That was the entire damn reason they even agreed to this little intervention.

“But,” Seonghwa added, his tone gravely serious. “If you ever ruin the sanctity of minigolf again…” He made a cutting motion across his throat.

“Ah, what do you mean?” Hongjoong asked, feigning innocence. “I won fair and square. You know, jealousy isn’t a good look for you, Seonghwa-yah.”

After just a little bit of convincing, Seonghwa even agreed to continue their little double date to the hotpot place the trio had planned to hit up next. The meal went pretty smoothly, Seonghwa started to actually open up more, finally getting to know Yunho and Mingi a little better. He also got to see a side of Yeosang that he didn't normally get to see, which was fun.

Later, the three of them took a bus back to campus. Mingi was dozing off on Hongjoong’s shoulder while Yunho rubbed curiously at the nail polish on Hongjoong’s pinky finger. It was somehow already a familiar feeling, even though they’d only been together for a month. It felt like they could live like this forever. And maybe they would. 

**Author's Note:**

> Here you are at the end notes! Feel free to leave me some feedback, that’s the only way for fanfic authors to thrive!! I miiight add more to this, it depends how burnt out I get. Just don't expect more smut because I was stuck in a rut for like a month trying to write out that second sex scene.
> 
> Fun fact! A couple weeks after I wrote the party scene I realized I used an NCT song in a fic where I literally have NCT characters in it but I didn’t want to change it because I love Boss :/ Also if I didn’t use Boss I’d have to use Idol and I didn’t want to use another BTS song especially after I established it as Woosan’s Thing. Suspend your disbelief please...
> 
> Check me out on [twitter](https://twitter.com/makingdemands/status/1272037029073780739) if you want to see my Hongjoong worship in tweet form instead of via fanfic.


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